EU leaders meeting in Porto and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, via video conference, agreed, on Saturday 8 May, to relaunch negotiations on a “balanced, ambitious, comprehensive and mutually beneficial trade agreement which would respond to the current challenges”.
“The most untapped potential (in EU-India relations) lies in trade and investment”, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the media.
While negotiations for a trade agreement were initiated in 2007, they have been at a standstill since 2013 (see EUROPE 10931/30).
“In order to create the required positive dynamic for negotiations, it is imperative to find solutions to long-standing market access issues” EU and Indian leaders admit in their joint statement.
The two sides also agreed to launch talks on two other agreements: a stand-alone investment protection agreement and one on geographical indications, which could be concluded separately or integrated into the trade agreement, depending on the pace of negotiations.
More broadly, the EU and India also intend to strengthen their coordination on global economic governance, notably within the WTO and the G20.
The Indian and European leaders also launched a “sustainable and comprehensive” Connectivity Partnership that will promote “a transparent, viable, inclusive, sustainable, comprehensive, and rules based connectivity”. In concrete terms, this partnership will be based on principles of social, economic, fiscal, climate and environmental sustainability and a level playing field for economic operators The two partners intend to strengthen and expand their cooperation through projects, including with third countries and regions, “to build digital, energy, transport and people-to-people connectivity”.
Ms von der Leyen also highlighted the creation of a high-level working group on artificial intelligence and cooperation on supercomputers, mentioning “a platform on climate simulation, which is important to fight climate change, but also, for example, to follow the sequencing of the Covid-19 virus”.
The EU and India also committed to fostering new synergies to jointly contribute to a “safer, greener, cleaner, more digital, resilient and stable world”, in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement. A first EU-India High Level Dialogue on Climate Change was held at the end of April and, on the margins of the summit, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the State Bank of India agreed to support a €100 million initiative for new high-impact climate action and sustainability business financing.
Finally, as India faces a second and very virulent wave of Covid-19, European leaders expressed their solidarity with the subcontinent. The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, announced that the EU was ready to further help the country. Seventeen Member States have already pledged support to India and the Commission will provide €2.2 million via the WHO to support the Indian people (see EUROPE 12714/3).
See the Joint Statement (https://bit.ly/3o2sudg ) and the Connectivity Partnership (https://bit.ly/3o1bYtH ). (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)