President Nikos Christodoulides on Wednesday hailed the trade deal agreed between the European Union and India, describing it as a “landmark” agreement.

He wrote in a post on social media that he “warmly welcomes” the deal, before reiterating the slogan of Cyprus’ six-month term as the Council of the EU’s rotating presidency that the bloc is “open to the world”.

Additionally, he pointed out that the deal will create “a free trade space of immense opportunity for two billion people”, as well as “a bridge between continents, markets, and people”, and “a strategic partnership that grows from strength to strength”.

The agreement was reached during European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa’s joint visit to India on Tuesday, though a number of steps remain before the agreement can enter into force.

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Firstly, the commission will be required to put forward a proposal regarding the deal to the European Council, with a “qualified majority” of heads of government – comprising at least 55 per cent of member states representing at least 65 per cent of the bloc’s population – needing to agree for the deal to progress.

The EU and India will then be able to sign the agreement and enforce it provisionally, though the European Parliament will also have to give its consent at some point.

Von der Leyen had on Tuesday hailed the success of the agreement, saying that the EU and India had “made history” and “deepened the partnership between the world’s biggest democracies”.

“We have created a free trade zone of two billion people, with both sides set to gain economically. We have sent a signal to the world that rules-based cooperation still delivers great outcomes,” she said.

The commission, meanwhile, stressed that the deal will “open a massive market to European farmers”, and highlighted that Indian tariffs on European wines are set to fall from 150 per cent to 20 per cent in the years following the deal’s entry into force, and that tariffs on European olive oil will fall to zero from their current level of 45 per cent.

It also stressed that “sensitive European agricultural sectors will be fully protected”, given that “products such as beef, chicken meat, rice, and sugar are excluded from liberalisation in the agreement” and that “all Indian imports will continue to have to respect the EU’s strict health and safety laws”.

Additionally, it said, the EU and India are currently negotiating a separate agreement regarding geographical indications of products, which it says will help “traditional iconic EU farming products sell more in India”.

The commission will hope that the deal with India will fare better in its progress toward ratification than the recent deal signed with South American trade bloc Mercosur.

The European Parliament had last week voted by MEPs 334 to 324 to send the EU’s trade deal with Mercosur to the European Court of Justice, warning that the deal may be incompatible with existing EU law, and that guidelines for negotiation issued by the Council of the EU may not have been “respected” by the commission.

As a result of the vote, the European Parliament’s vote to ratify the deal, which had been expected to take place in February or March, will now not take place until after the ECJ delivers its ruling on the deal’s legality.

This process is expected to take at least a year, with some reports having suggested that a ruling may not be reached until 2028.