Two weeks ahead of its visit to India, the European Commission is negotiating a joint statement with New Delhi at the end of the EU-India Trade and Technology Council (TTC). A second draft text was proposed by India in the middle of the week and was positively received by Member States, according to two European sources.
The document, seen by Agence Europe, has been fleshed out to cover other areas of cooperation, but retains the broad outlines of the first draft (see EUROPE 13576/9). For several weeks now, the European Commission has been trying to forge closer links with various partners beyond the United States and China. There is therefore no question of getting to the heart of any contentious issues with India at this stage.
On purely trade-related issues, the EU Member States asked for explicit mention of the ongoing negotiations for a free trade agreement, an investment agreement and another agreement on the protection of geographical indications in the statement. This is now a done deal.
Changes have also been made to incorporate work between the two partners in the field of agriculture and food safety. “India and the EU intend to collaborate on quota plans for food security”, according to the draft statement.
Cooperation also extends to the pharmaceutical sector, with greater transparency in value chains to help identify certain vulnerabilities. A warning system is expected to be set up to prevent disruption.
The language remains the same on the political issue of market access. According to one source, Member States would like to go further in this passage.
Two sentences referring to the problems associated with implementing the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism for India have been retained. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)