India and EU set to create trade and technology council

Despite conflicting views on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, India and the European Union announced the formation of a special council on Monday to strengthen trade and technological collaboration.

Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the European Commission, is the latest Western ambassador to visit New Delhi in an attempt to stress India on its impartial stance on the war.

India, which buys the majority of its armaments from Russia, has called for an end to the violence in Ukraine but has not condemned Russia’s invasion.

“The EU has only one Trade and Technology Council and that is with the US and I think therefore it is telling that it was so important for us to put up a second… with India,”

von der Leyen said.

The measure is part of a broader EU plan to accelerate trade talks with India and to give New Delhi a viable alternative to diversify away from Russia, Bloomberg News quoted an unnamed source as saying.

The “strategic coordination mechanism will allow both partners to tackle challenges at the nexus of trade, trusted technology and security, and thus deepen cooperation in these fields,”

India and the Commission said in a joint statement.

INDIA AND EU TALKS ON ‘FULL FREE TRADE’ TO START SOON

“agreed that rapid changes in the geopolitical environment highlight the need for joint in-depth strategic engagement”.

Both sides said they had

Both sides agreed in May 2021 to resume talks on a free trade deal between India and the EU, which had been stalled since 2013 over issues such as patent protection and tariff reductions.

According to the European Commission, the EU is India’s third-largest trading partner, and the two sides traded goods worth 62.8 billion euros ($67.5 billion) in 2020.

Multiple countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia, and Israel, are in the midst of or about to begin discussions on full free trade agreements.

In February, India and the United Arab Emirates struck a “milestone” trade and investment agreement.