PM Narendra Modi kicked off his engagements in Italy on Friday last with a meeting with European Council President Charles Michel and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on the sidelines of the 16th G20 Summit in Rome.
During the meeting, leaders of India and the EU reviewed India-EU cooperation covering political and security relations, trade and investment and economic cooperation as well as the Roadmap 2025 agreed at the last India-EU Summit, said the government in a statement. They also discussed climate change, Covid-19 pandemic and contemporary global and regional developments of interest to both sides. According to Indian authorities, EU leaders also congratulated India for its excellent progress on vaccination.
This was Modi’s first official engagement after he arrived in Italy to participate in the G20 Summit where he will join other leaders in discussions on global economic and health recovery from Covid-19, sustainable development and climate change. “Official engagements in Rome begin with a productive interaction with @eucopresident Charles Michel and @vonderleyen, President of the @EU_Commission. The leaders discussed ways to enhance economic as well as people-to-people linkages aimed at creating a better planet,” the prime minister’s office said in a tweet.
After the meeting, European Commission President Leyen said it was “good to meet” PM Modi. “Good to meet @narendramodi. Our strategic agenda is on the right track. We agreed that our trade negotiators will start to work. We'll deepen our cooperation on climate, including on innovation & technology. Looking forward to cooperating in the Indo-Pacific #EUGlobalGateway,” she said on twitter.
Michel said in a tweet the two sides discussed global health and “fighting the pandemic, the strong EU-India Strategic Partnership, the situation in Afghanistan and the Indo-Pacific”. The 15th India-EU summit, held in virtual mode in July 2020, was attended by PM Modi, Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen.
In 2020, India was the EU’s 10th largest trading partner accounting for 1.8% of EU’s total bilateral trade in goods. India-EU bilateral trade in goods in 2020 was valued at 65.30 billion euros. India-EU bilateral relations date back to the early 1960s with India being amongst the first countries to establish diplomatic relations with the European Economic Community in 1962.
The first India-EU Summit took place on 28 June, 2000, in Lisbon. The relationship was upgraded to a ‘Strategic Partnership’ during the 5th India-EU Summit held in 2004 in The Hague.
