New Delhi (TDI): In the second EU-India ministerial meeting of the Trade and Technology Council (TTC), the European Union sought to strengthen its partnership with India in Trade, Innovation and sustainability.
Many important figures from both sides attended the meeting.
EU Commissioner for Startups, Research, and Innovation Ekaterina Zaharieva, Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maros Sefcovic, and Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security, and Democracy Henna Virkkunen co-chaired the ministerial meeting.
India’s External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar, Commerce Minister Shri Piyush Goyal, and Industry Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw represented the country on the Indian side.
India is a significant trade and investment partner of the EU, and according to 2023 statistics, their bilateral trade was 184 billion euros.
The EU and India recognized TTC as a coordination platform to address important trade, technology, and security issues.
The success of the three working groups was a key component of this ministerial meeting.
In the digital sector, both partners are committed to enhance human-centric digital transformation, advanced and reliable AI, semiconductors, high-performance computing, and 6G for the betterment of their economies and societies.
The EU Chief Ursula Von der Leyen appreciated India on its future endeavor of AI summit hosting.
She said, “Europe and India both believe that technology should serve people, not the other way round”.
She also called AI the strategic agenda of both parties.
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EU and India decided to strive for their individual Digital Public Infrastructures (DPIs) to be interoperable.
Both parties stressed the need for e-signatures for cross-border digital transactions.
They talked about strengthening semiconductor supply chains.
Moreover, they also discussed deepening the cooperation between AI ventures of the European AI Office and India AI Mission.
They also signed a memorandum of understanding between the Indian Bharat 6G Alliance and the EU 6G Smart Networks and Services Industry Association.
Under the green and clean technology umbrella, the EU and India jointly launched Research Cooperation under the Horizon of Europe program.
They will spend about 60 million euros on this program.
The key areas of focus of Green and Clean technologies are marine plastic litter, waste to renewable hydrogen, recycling batteries of electric vehicles, and wastewater treatment technologies.
Currently, the EU and India are negotiating a free trade agreement, an investment protection agreement, and an agreement on geographical locations to enhance their bilateral trade and investments further.
Both parties acknowledged the need to reform the WTO while reaffirming their commitment to the multilateral trading system.
They also discussed trade and decarbonization with special reference to the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism.
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The EU and India pledged to create resilient and future-ready value chains at the TTC ministerial meeting.
This includes working together on emergency planning for food security and food system sustainability.
It also encompasses launching early warning systems to predict and lessen disruptions in the supply of active pharmaceutical ingredients and investigating synergies in clean value chains for technologies like solar energy, offshore wind, and green hydrogen.
The EU-India TTC was made on February 6, 2023, to enhance the digital and strategic partnerships of the EU and India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced it in New Delhi on April 25, 2022.
This ministerial meeting of the EU and India on the TTC forum on February 28, 2025, is a practical move to foster their bilateral relations in the areas of technology, AI, trade, green energy, and digital connectivity.
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