President von der Leyen and the College in India to deepen EU-India strategic partnership
President Ursula von der Leyen and the College of Commissioners are in India today to strengthen the strategic partnership between the European Union and India. Europe is committed to enhancing cooperation with India, one of its most trusted partners, across various sectors, including trade, technology, and defense. President von der Leyen met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and agreed to conclude a free trade agreement by the end of the year.
President von der Leyen delivered a keynote speech on the need to realign EU-India relations to address todays global challenges and spoke at a joint press point with Prime Minister Modi. The President stressed the need to step up security and defense cooperation on land, at sea, and in space, and reiterated that artificial intelligence should be at the heart of our Strategic Agenda, based on the shared belief that technology should serve the people.
Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen, Commissioner Maros Šefčovič, and Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva also co-chaired the second meeting of the EU-India Trade and Technology Council. Discussions focused on strengthening collaboration in critical areas such as semiconductors, clean energy, and digital transformation. The Commissioners also held bilateral meetings with their Indian counterparts.
The discussions held today will feed into the reflection on a new Strategy Agenda which the Commission will table before the upcoming EU-India Summit later this year.
More information is available online. A Leaders statement will be published at 13:30 CET.
(For more information: Paula Pinho — Tel.: +32 2 292 08 15)
EU and India deepen strategic engagement in second Trade and Technology Council
The European Union and India held the second ministerial meeting of the EU-India Trade and Technology Council (TTC) yesterday in New Delhi.
The meeting was co-chaired by Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy Henna Virkkunen, Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maroš Šefčovič, as well as Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation Ekaterina Zaharieva, representing the EU. On the Indian side, the co-chairs were External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar, Commerce and Industry Minister Shri Piyush Goyal, and Minister for Railways, Information & Broadcasting, Electronics & Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw.
The outcomes of the meeting follow the work of the three working groups of the TTC. On strategic technologies, digital governance and digital connectivity, the EU and India will accelerate a human-centric digital transformation, as well as the development of artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductors, high-performance computing, and 6G. Concretely, the EU and India agreed to work towards the interoperability of digital public infrastructures (DPIs). In the field of AI, the European AI Office and the India AI Mission will deepen cooperation, for example, on large language models (LLMs) and AI for human development and common good, including through joint projects such as developing tools and frameworks for ethical and responsible AI.
On green and clean energy technologies, the two partners confirmed the good progress so far, having connected Indian and EU startups with potential partners and investors in the area of battery recycling for E-vehicles. Both partners agreed on research cooperation on marine plastic litter, waste-to-renewable hydrogen, and recycling of batteries for E-vehicles, with a joint investment of around €60 million. The EU and India also held a workshop on E-vehicle charging standards earlier in the week.
On trade, investment and resilient value chains, the EU and India agreed to enhance their cooperation on strengthening supply chains, particularly for agricultural goods, clean technology, and active pharmaceutical ingredients. They also explored avenues of cooperation on the multilateral trading system and discussed bilateral market access issues, Foreign Direct Investment screening, and the implementation of the EUs Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism.
You can find more information on the key outcomes online and in the Joint statement, which will be available soon.
(For more information: Thomas Regnier — Tel. + 32 2 299 10 99; Nika Blazevic — Tel. + 32 2 299 27 17)