India-EU launch virtual summit; partnership to bolster international trade & dialogue

At a virtual summit with 27 national leaders, European Union (EU) and India pushed for a deeper strategic alliance. May 8, they have pledged to make a more serious go of it in a conclave to strengthen the existing important international partnership. A strengthened exchange of views and information between India and the EU on matters of mutual interest in the areas of economic cooperation has always improved the business environment and strengthened economic association.

The rendezvous of the leaders of the European Union and India taking place on May 8 is a moment of profound geopolitical significance. Bolstering the dialogue between the world’s two largest democratic spaces, new impetus to their partnership with a positive effect on international trade and investment is bound to get stimulated.  

"India and the EU, as the largest democracies in the world share common values"

India-EU relations date to the early 1960s, with India being amongst the first countries to establish diplomatic relations with the European Economic Community. A cooperation agreement signed in 1994 took the bilateral relationship beyond trade and economic cooperation. At the 5th India-EU Summit at The Hague in 2004, the relationship was upgraded to a ‘Strategic Partnership’. The two sides adopted a Joint Action Plan in 2005 (which was reviewed in 2008) that provided for strengthening dialogue and consultation mechanisms in the political and economic spheres, enhancing trade and investment, and bringing peoples and cultures together.

The EU and India have periodically pledged to expand respective cooperation, building on the architecture set out in our 1994 Strategic Partnership. But the realization of that ambition has remained a challenge compared to the opportunities offered by our economies, and the dynamics of technological development. The EU is India’s largest trading partner and India- EU bilateral trade has been shown great dynamism. Both sides have agreed that trade volumes can be further boosted. The EU and India are committed to understanding the problems faced by EU and Indian companies in relation to customs controls. Strengthening this partnership would offer Europe an opportunity to diversify relations in a strategic region of the world. 

The Porto EU-India Leaders’ Meeting promises to be a pivotal moment in this regard, giving new momentum to the partnership between the world’s two largest democratic spaces, made up of over 1.8 billion people. This dialogue will be crucial to rebalance relations between the EU and the Indo-Pacific. It is key for us to reaffirm our firm belief in democracy, rule of law, tolerance and the universality and indivisibility of human rights.  

We must seize this opportunity to elevate our relationship, using the huge potential of our democratic spaces to advance trade and investment ties and to support effective multilateralism and a rules-based order.   

The meeting is a chance to expand cooperation between the EU and India in new areas of decisive importance for the development of contemporary societies and economies: the digital transition, connectivity, mobility, health, the energy transition and climate action.  

The EU and India are already key partners in issues of growing relevance for the development and sustainability of our society. The meeting is also an opportunity to give a new impetus to trade and investment negotiations between the EU and India. 

The EU is India’s biggest trading partner and the second-largest destination for Indian exports. Trade between the EU and India has increased 72 per cent in the last decade. The EU is also the leading foreign investor in India. Its share in foreign investment inflows has more than doubled in the last decade. Some 6,000 European companies are present in India, generating 1.7 million direct and 5 million indirect jobs. Growing investments from India in recent years have also meant the active presence of Indian companies in the EU as well. 

Apart from everything else, an EU-India agreement would send a powerful signal to the world in support of the benefits of international trade cooperation. A similar rationale applies to investment. The negotiation of an EU wide investment protection framework would provide greater stability and certainty to companies from India and EU to expand their presence in each other’s markets. 

COVID-19 weighs heavy on international trade duo

EU-India relations have always been marked by mutual support and solidarity. This has been evident during the COVID-19 pandemic when both have supported each other and the rest of the world. India extended medical supplies to Europe earlier and now the EU has extended assistance to India as it experiences a second wave of COVID-19. 

Portugal and India have always played a unique role in bringing the two continents together, both in the distant and recent past. Portugal hosted the first-ever EU-India Summit in Lisbon, during the 2000 Portuguese EU Presidency and India hosted the eighth EU-India Summit in New Delhi, in 2007, also during a Portuguese Presidency. 

That makes us particularly conscious of the merits of a relationship spanning two continents and linking two vast oceans that has evolved to accompany the huge transformations in our countries and societies. It is important we do not let this moment pass us by. The journey together between the EU and India will be continued and advanced as of tomorrow in search of new routes of political, economic and technological cooperation, with enormous potential for mutual benefits.