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The Sixth India-EU Summit will be held in New Delhi on 7th September 2005. Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh will lead the Indian delegation and will be assisted by Ministers of External Affairs and Commerce & Industry.
The EU side will be led by Rt. Hon. Tony Blair, Prime Minister of United Kingdom, in his capacity as President of the Council of the European Union and Mr. Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission. They will be assisted by Dr. Javier Solana, EU Secretary General and High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, Dr. (Ms.) Benita Ferrero Waldner, EU Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy and Mr. Peter Mandelson, EU Commissioner for Trade.
One of the most important outcomes of this Summit will be the endorsement by India and the EU of a Joint Action Plan. This is the first such Action Plan we have with any of our partners. It provides the necessary framework for deeper cooperation and engagement over a range of interactions, as envisaged by the Strategic Partnership launched by the two sides at the 5th India-EU Summit held last year at The Hague.
The Joint Action Plan provides for intensified political dialogue and cooperation, with a view to meeting common threats and global challenges, starting with terrorism. India and the EU would also be intensifying their interactions in promoting effective multilateralism, strengthening UN peacekeeping and peacebuilding as well as establishing an EU-India security dialogue on global and regional security issues, disarmament and non-proliferation.
A major part of the Action Plan is devoted to intensifying economic dialogue and cooperation, trade and investment. It looks at specific measures to help enhanced trade and investment flows between India and the EU in various sectors. It also looks at ways and means of enhancing cooperation over several areas, including the social sector, science and technology, space, energy, clean development and climate change, information and communication technology and transport. There are also sections in the Action Plan on bringing together our peoples and cultures. The Action Plan provides for dialogue on migration and consular issues as also educational cooperation through the facilitation of academic exchanges, and civil society dialogue.
The two sides will also issue a Political Declaration on the India-EU Strategic Partnership. The Political Declaration sums up the salient features of what we wish to achieve together as Strategic Partners.
India was among the first countries to establish diplomatic relations with the (then) EEC in 1963. The 1994 cooperation agreement signed between EU and India took bilateral relations beyond merely trade and economic cooperation. Together with the Joint Political Statement signed in 1993 it opened the way for annual ministerial meetings and a broad political dialogue. At the first India-EU Summit in Lisbon in June 2000 a decision was taken to hold annual Summits. The 5th Summit at The Hague in Nov 2004 endorsed the EU’s proposal to upgrade its relationship with India to a ‘Strategic Partnership’. The EU has strategic partnerships with only five other countries - USA, Canada, Russia, Japan and China. India now joins this select club, as a country which the EU sees as a “regional and global leader... engaging increasingly on equal terms with other world powers”.
Senior representatives of the EU delegation led by Prime Minister Blair and European Commission President Barroso will pay a courtesy call on hon’ble Rashtrapatiji on Sep 07, 2005.
The EU (as a bloc of 25 nations) is India’s largest export destination and has a share of over 24% in her total exports. In the year 2004, India was the 19th largest exporter to the EU. On the other hand, India was the 16th largest importer of the EU’s products. India’s exports to the EU in 2004 were Euros 16 bn and imports were worth Euros 17 bn. The EU is one of the largest sources of FDI for India. Taking the period from 1991 to 2003, the total FDI approvals for EU-15 have approximately been $15 billion. The actual cumulative inflows are however around 6.2 billion Euros (US$ 5.6 billion). The most important countries in the EU for FDI are UK, Germany, and Netherlands followed by France, Italy and Belgium.
The Sixth India-EU Business Summit will also be held on the 7th September. It is organized by CII and FICCI, in coordination with their European and British counterparts. It will be addressed by PM, Prime Minister Blair and President of the European Commission Barroso at a Special Plenary Session. It is intended to give greater thrust and focus to the economic, trade and investment aspects of the EU-India partnership.
AK/SK/JA
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