EU-India Relations — Keeping up the Momentum Needed for a Vital Strategic Partnership

Please note: Each In-Depth Analysis is assigned a DOI (digital object identifier), which is a safe and long term way of ensuring a hyperlink to the full text of this report. However, when ESO creates this record, on occasion the DOI still has not been activated by the EU Bookshop. If you find the source url hyperlink does not work please use the alternative location hyperlink listed as a related url.Relations between the EU and India seem to be back on track since leaders met in Brussels, on 30 March 2016, for their first summit in four years. They endorsed the EU-India Agenda for Action 2020 and their water, clean energy and climate partnerships; they welcomed the negotiations on a broad-based Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) and agreed that the fact that they are currently stalled should not stand in the way of the overall development of the relationship. They set a common agenda on migration and mobility and they adopted a joint declaration on counter-terrorism.

It is vital to keep up the momentum created at the summit. The strategic relationship is vital to both sides: India is Asia’s third-largest economy and the world’s fastest growing economy and the EU is India’s biggest trading partner. The EU is also the largest investor in India, with foreign direct investment stock valued at €38.5 billion in 2014, and is the primary destination for Indian foreign investment.

• Primary Source

European Parliament: Directorate-General for Internal Policies of the Union: Publications available via the EU Bookshop http://bookshop.europa.eu/en/directorate-general-for-internal-policies-of-the-union-cbf.cKABstF7wAAAEjwYYY4e5K/

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