The first ever High Level Dialogue (HLD) between India and the European Union (EU) was held on Friday, 5 February. The dialogue was co-chaired by the Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal and the European Union Executive Vice-President and Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis.
In the HLD, the Ministers emphasized the importance of global cooperation and solidarity in a post COVID-19 era and agreed for further deepening of bilateral trade and investment relations through a series of regular engagements.
The Ministers also agreed to meet within the next three months, with an objective for reaching consensus on a host of bilateral trade & investment cooperation issues, namely, a bilateral Regulatory Dialogue, an India-EU Multilateral Dialogue to explore further possibilities of cooperation, etc. In a significant step in taking India-EU relations forward, regular interactions for the re-initiation of bilateral trade and investment agreements were also discussed.
The Ministers concluded with confidence and commitment towards a renewed India-EU partnership in the commercial and economic spheres, reflecting the full potential of bilateral relations.
The EU and India had expressed commitment to establish this dialogue in the 15th India-EU Leader’s Summit in July 2020. A Ministerial level guidance towards bilateral trade and investment relations had also been decided upon in the summit.
Negotiations for a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the EU and India were launched in 2007. However, talks were suspended in 2013 due to “a gap in the level of ambition” between India and the EU.
Trade in goods between the EU and India was worth €80 billion in 2019, while trade in services between the EU and India increased rapidly from €22.3 billion in 2015 to €29.6 billion in 2018. The EU is India’s largest trading partner, with 11.1% of total Indian trade, on par with the USA and ahead of China (10.7%) [data from 2019].
The EU’s share in foreign investment inflows to India more than doubled from 8% to 18% in the last decade, making the EU the first foreign investor in India. Some 6,000 European companies are present in India.
(Published from PIB)
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