During her visit to India on Friday 21 April, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini and her Indian counterparts – Prime Minister Narendra Modi, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Minister of State for External Affairs MJ Akbar – decided to strengthen and deepen the two parties' bilateral relations.
"The EU and India expressed their common interest and commitment to strengthen their cooperation on the world stage, both bilaterally and in multilateral fora, on common priorities such as multilateralism, climate change, sustainable development, free and fair trade, security and defence – notably on maritime security – and counterterrorism", the European External Action Service said in a press release.
According to the EEAS, "in view of the 14th bilateral India-EU summit to be held later this year in New Delhi, the European Union and India agreed to further strengthen and deepen their bilateral relations". "In particular, taking stock of progress made on decisions taken last year at the 13th EU-India summit in Brussels, it has been agreed to deepen cooperation in foreign policy, security and defence, trade, investments, climate change, water, new and renewable energy, environment, ICT, space, research and technology, urbanisation, and to strengthen people-to-people contacts, including student exchanges through the Erasmus programme." Meanwhile, the office of India's prime minister stated that emphasis should be put on strengthening cooperation on security, especially the fight against terrorism.
"The European Union and India are natural partners. They share fundamental values of democracy and diversity, economic interests and robust trade relations, common security challenges, and a direct interest in the stabilisation of many fragile areas, from the Korean Peninsula to Afghanistan", the EEAS stated in its press release. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)