New Delhi, Feb 28: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen affirmed that the EU-India Strategic Partnership has delivered strong benefits for their peoples and for the larger global good.
They committed to raise this partnership to a higher-level, building upon 20 years of India-EU Strategic Partnership and over 30 years of India-EC Cooperation Agreement.
President von der Leyen was on her landmark official visit as she led the European Union College of Commissioners to India on Thursday. This is the first visit of the College of Commissioners outside the European continent since the start of their new mandate and also the first such visit in the history of India-EU bilateral ties.
As the two largest democracies and open market economies with diverse pluralistic societies, India and EU underscored their commitment and shared interest in shaping a resilient multipolar global order that underpins peace and stability, economic growth and sustainable development.
The leaders agreed that shared values and principles including democracy, rule of law, and the rules-based international order in line with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter make India and the EU like-minded and trusted partners. The India-EU Strategic partnership is needed now, more than ever, to jointly address global issues, foster stability, and promote mutual prosperity.
In this context, they stressed the importance of intensifying cooperation between India and Europe in trade and de-risking of supply chains, investment, emerging critical technologies, innovation, talent, digital and green industrial transition, space and geospatial sectors, defence and people-to-people contacts. They also highlighted the need to cooperate on tackling common global challenges, including climate change, the governance of Artificial Intelligence, development finance, and terrorism in an interdependent world.
The two leaders welcomed the progress made by the second ministerial meeting of the India-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) that took place during the visit in fostering deeper collaboration and strategic co-ordination at the intersection of trade, trusted technology, and green transition.
They also welcomed the specific outcomes emerging from deliberations conducted between the EU College of Commissioners and their Indian counterpart Ministers.
