President von der Leyen and the College of Commissioners were in New Delhi on 27-28 February to deepen relations with the largest democracy in the world.
The President and the College met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government to discuss how to take the EU-India Strategic Partnership to the next level.
This visit marks a significant step forward in the relationship. It will contribute to shape the new EU-India Strategic Agenda that President von der Leyen announced in her Political Guidelines and that will be presented in the coming months.
President von der Leyen delivered a keynote speech and she also addressed the press together with Prime Minister Modi later in the day.
She made the case for stronger EU-India ties in an increasingly complex world. She stressed that both sides’ interests coincide more often than not, and said that it was time to realign common priorities rather that get stuck trying to find agreement in every single issue.
The President spoke of three core areas that will define the future of EU-India cooperation: trade and technology, security and defence, and connectivity and global partnership.
Amongst other major announcements, President von der Leyen said that she and Prime Minister Modi agreed on the need to move forward with the EU-India trade negotiations in order to reach a deal this year.
She also announced that the Commission will explore a security and defence partnership with India similar to the one the EU already has with Japan and the Republic of Korea. “This will help us step up our work to counter common threats whether on cross-border terrorism, maritime security threats, cyber-attacks or the new phenomenon we see: attacks on our critical infrastructure,” she said.
Co-operation on the India-Middle East-Europe Corridor (IMEC) was discussed during the visit, as well. President von der Leyen described it as a historic opportunity saying: “This can be a modern golden road – directly connecting India, the Arabian Gulf and Europe. With a rail link, that will make trade between India and Europe 40% faster. With an electricity cable and a clean hydrogen pipeline. And a high-speed data cable to link some of the most innovative digital ecosystems in the world.”
Other areas of cooperation that the EU and India will seek to deepen include Artificial Intelligence, 6G, semiconductors, high performance computing, drones, and more resilient supply chains.
In this sense, the visit put in focus the importance of the work carried out by the EU-India Trade and Technology Council (TTC). Its second meeting took place today, with the Commission represented by Executive Vice-President Virkkunen, Commissioner Šefčovič, and Commissioner Zaharieva, and a joint statement was presented describing the current projects and objectives of its three working groups.
More information
Leaders’ statement following the visit
Remarks by President von der Leyen at the press point with Prime Minister Modi
Joint statement on the second meeting of the EU-India Trade and Technology Council