European Commission(EC) President Ursula von der Leyen made a two-day visit along with the European Union (EU) College of Commissioners to India from 27th February to 28th February 2025.
- This was the first visit of the College of Commissioners outside the European continent and also the first visit in the history of India-EU bilateral ties.
- The visit involved discussions upon the topics including trade and investment, upcoming technologies, innovation, talent, digital and green industrial transition, space, defense and people-to-people contacts.
- They also focused upon the cooperation in preventing global challenges, including climate change, expansion of Artificial Intelligence(AI), development finance, and terrorism.
Highlights of the visit :
EC President von der Leyen met with Prime Minister(PM) Narendra Modi in New Delhi(Delhi) to discuss enhancing the EU-India strategic partnership, focusing on trade, technology, climate change, and security cooperation.
2nd meeting of India-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC):
The 2nd meeting of the India-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) took place on 28th February 2025 in New Delhi.
- It was co-chaired by Union Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Ministry of External Affairs(MEA) ; Union Minister Piyush Goyal, Ministry of Commerce and Industry(MoC&I); and Ashwini Vaishnaw Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
- Henna Virkkunen,Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy ; Maros Šefčovič,Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security, Interinstitutional Relations and Transparency and Ekaterina Zaharieva, Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation co-chaired from the EU side.
Note:The India-EU TTC was established in April 2022 as a platform to address problems in the areas of trade, trusted technology and security. The first meeting of the India-EU TTC was held in Brussels, Belgium in 2023.
Key Outcomes of the meeting:
Strategic technologies, digital governance and digital connectivity:
India and EU have committed –
- To work towards making respective Digital Public Infrastructures (DPIs) compatible to ensure protecting human rights and personal data, privacy and intellectual property rights.
- To mutually accept the need of e-signatures to enhance cross-border digital transactions while supporting the economic growth.
- To conduct joint research and development in the field of chip design to increase the resilience of semiconductor supply chains.
- To deepen the cooperation between the European AI Office and India AI Mission, including large language models (LLMs).
- Agreement between the EU 6G Smart Networks and Services Industry Association and the Indian Bharat 6G Alliance for safe telecommunications and resilient supply chains.
Green and clean energy technologies
EU and India will launch –
- Joint research cooperation under the Horizon Europe program which will be launched in 2025, focusing on key areas such as marine plastic litter and waste-to-renewable hydrogen and will have a joint investment of around 60 million euros.
- An “Ideathon” will be launched on marine plastic pollution, to jointly develop practical solutions to address this issue.
- Both the partners will work on harmonising standards for the charging infrastructure for electric vehicles, for mutual access to these growing markets.
Trade, investment and resilient value chains
The EU and India committed to collaborate on contingency planning for food security and on sustainability of food systems, establishing early warning systems to prevent disruptions in the supply of active pharmaceutical ingredients, and promoting technologies such as solar energy, offshore wind and green hydrogen.
The EU and India also-
- Discussed best practices monitoring Foreign Direct Investments(FDI), for enhancing both sides’ economic security.
- Committed towards establishing a multilateral trading system, while recognizing the need to bring changes to the World Trade Organization (WTO).
- Held in-depth discussions on trade and decarbonisation, especially on the implementation of the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).
- The two leaders also agreed to take concrete steps for the realisation of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor(IMEEC), enhance security and defence partnership and promote clean and green energy with a focus on green hydrogen.
India-EU Science & Technology(S&T) Cooperation meeting:
An India-EU S&T Cooperation meeting held at the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser(PSA), Vigyan Bhawan Annexe, New Delhi.
- During the meeting, India and the EU strengthened their cooperation in Science & Technology(S&T) which was originally signed in 2001 and renewed in 2015 and 2020, and is extended for 2025-2030.
- The high-level meeting also highlighted significant achievements in wastewater treatment, vaccine innovations, and deep-sea exploration, that have been the key areas of cooperation between the two regions.
Key Points:
On 28th February 2025, Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh hosted a high-level European Union delegation led by Commissioner Andrius Kubilius, along with space sector experts in New Delhi.
- The discussions were held upon current and future cooperation between India and Europe in the field of space exploration.
About European Commission(EC):
President – Ursula von der Leyen
Headquarters – Brussels, Belgium
Founded – 1958
