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PM Narendra Modi pitches for 'action-oriented' agenda at EU-India Summit

Last Updated 15 July 2020, 16:52 IST

To deepen economic engagement and spur recovery after the Covid-19 crisis, India and the European Union (EU) on Wednesday agreed to add “political guidance” to the efforts to end the impasse in the negotiation for the much-awaited trade and investment agreement.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a virtual summit with the EU leaders – President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. The Department of Atomic Energy of the Government of India and its EU counterpart EURATOM inked an agreement on the side-line of the summit. The agreement will pave the way for cooperation in peaceful uses of nuclear energy in agriculture, healthcare, industry, radioactive waste management and fusion as well as nuclear safety and security.

Modi and the EU leaders reaffirmed commitment to work towards balanced, ambitious and mutually beneficial trade and investment agreements, opening markets and creating a level playing field on both sides. They also agreed to establish a regular “High-Level Dialogue” at ministerial level to provide guidance to the bilateral trade and investment relations and to address multilateral issues of mutual interest. Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and the European Union’s Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan will co-chair the new dialogue, which, according to a joint statement issued after the summit, will “aim at fostering progress on the trade and investment agreements, addressing trade irritants and improving conditions for traders and investors on both sides as well as discuss supply chain linkages”.

The negotiations between India and the EU for a broad-based trade and investment agreement remained stalled since 2013 due to differences over certain issues, including improved market access for some goods and services, government procurement, geographical indications, investment protection rules and sustainable development.

The 15th India-EU summit was the first after the United Kingdom formally exited the bloc in January this year. The last summit was held in 2017.

The EU is India’s largest trading partner for goods with trade exceeding $ 100 billion. India also has a large service trade of about $ 40 billion with the 27-nation bloc. The EU is one of the largest investors in India with cumulative investment of over $ 91 billion.

“The world is confronting new economic challenges in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. The democracies around the world should come together to stand up to the challenges,” Modi said in his opening remarks at the virtual summit.

“The EU and India are banding together to fight the Covid-19 pandemic and I welcome India’s role in tackling the virus, both at the regional and the global level, as well as to the research and manufacturing of a vaccine, which should be available to all. We will cooperate to strengthen our health systems and ensure the WHO (World Health Organization) is effective,” said Michel, who addressed a news-conference after the summit. He also said that India and the EU agreed on the need to make the economic and social recovery more sustainable, more resilient and inclusive.

“The EU is India's largest trade and investment partner. But India represents only about 2% of EU external trade. This is clearly an area that offers impressive potential for significant future growth. We agreed to enhance conditions for traders and investors,” he said.

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(Published 15 July 2020, 14:27 IST)

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