INDIA-EU ECONOMIC RELATIONS

 India-EU relations go back to the early 1960s.
 India was among the first countries to establish diplomatic relations with the (then) European Economic Community (EEC).
 The 1994 cooperation agreement signed between EU and India took bilateral relations well beyond trade and economic cooperation.
 The 5th India-EU Summit at The Hague in 2004 endorsed the EU’s proposal to upgrade its relationship with India to a ‘Strategic Partnership’.
 The two sides also adopted a Joint Action Plan in 2005 which provides for Strengthening Dialogue and Consultation mechanisms; Deepening political dialogue and cooperation; Bringing together People and Cultures; Enhancing Economic Policy Dialogue and Cooperation; and Developing Trade and Investment.
 The President of India visited Strasbourg from 25-26 April 2007 at the invitation of the President of the European Parliament (EP). It was the first ever visit by a President of India to the EP.
POLITICAL DIALOGUE
 India and the EU have held ten annual Summits to date.
 The 10th India-EU Summit was held in New Delhi on 6 November 2009.
 India was represented by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and the EU was represented by Mr. Fredrik Reinfeldt, Prime Minister of Sweden and European Commission President Jose Manuel Durao Barroso.
 The Summit reviewed India-EU Relations and exchanged views on developments in India and EU; (i) recognized the need to pursue the reform of the principal UN bodies with a view to enhancing the representativeness, transparency and effectiveness of the system; (ii) resolved to jointly fight terrorism in all its forms and manifestation; (iii) took note of the signing of the India-EU Agreement in the field of (a) nuclear fusion energy research underlining the importance of energy security and clean energy; (b) agreed to work towards early conclusion of the Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement and the Maritime Agreement. The leaders also identified trade and investment, energy, counter-terrorism, science and technology, climate change, and movement of peoples and as priority areas of cooperation.
INDIA-EU BUSINESS LINKS
 The EU, as a bloc of 27 countries, is India’s largest trading partner while India was EU’s 9th largest trading partner in 2008.
 EU-India trade has been growing steadily reaching € 60.9 billion in 2008 (1.9% of EU’s total trade).
 In 2008, India was the 11th largest exporter to the EU and had a share of 1.9% in the total EU imports.
 India was the 9th largest importer of EU’s products and had a share of 2.4 % in the EU’s global exports.
 In 2008, total Indian exports to the EU in the different services sector was 7.94 billion euros whereas total Indian imports from the EU was worth 8.56 billion euros.
 In the first half of 2009, India’s exports to EU was 12.9 billion euros while India’s imports was 12.7 billion euros.
 The EU is one of the largest sources of FDI for India. However, the FDI inflows from the EU to India declined from Euro 4.019 billion in 2007 to Euro 3.27 billion in 2008.
 India has also emerged as a major investor in the EU countries with total investment from India increasing from Euro 1.003 billion in the year 2007 to Euro 3.69 billion in 2008.
INSTITUTIONAL INTERACTIONS
• India and the EU have held eight rounds of negotiations for a bilateral Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement.
• Negotiations commenced in 2007 and cover Trade in goods, Sanitary & Phyto-sanitary Measures and Technical Barriers to Trade, Trade in services, Investment, Intellectual Property Rights and Geographical Indications, Competition Policy, Customs and Trade Facilitation, Trade Defence , Dispute Settlement).
• India and EU have Joint Working Groups on Counter Terrorism, Consular Issues, Agriculture and Marine Products, Energy, Environment, Technical Barriers to Trade and Sanitary and Phyto-sanitary Issues, Textiles, Steel, Information Technology & Communications, Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology, Food Processing Industries and Customs Cooperation. Both sides also have regular dialogues on Security, Human Rights, Macroeconomy and Science and Technology.
BILATERAL AGREEMENTS
India and the EU have signed bilateral agreements which includes (a) cooperation in the field of Science & Technology in 2001 which was renewed in 2007; (b) Joint Vision Statement for promoting cooperation in the field of information and communications technology in 2001; (c) customs cooperation agreement in 2004; (d) Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation on Employment and Social Affairs in November 2006; (e) Horizontal Civil Aviation Agreement in 2008; (f) Joint Declaration in field of Education in 2008; and (g) Agreement in the field of nuclear fusion energy research in November 2009.
Tenth India-European Union Summit
 The Tenth India-European Union Summit was held in New Delhi on 6 November 2009.
 The Republic of India was represented by the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh. The EU was represented by Mr Fredrik Reinfeldt, Prime Minister of Sweden, in his capacity as President of the Council of the European Union, and Mr. Jose Manuel Durão Barroso, President of the European Commission.
I. GLOBAL ISSUES
Strengthening the multilateral system
 Both India and the EU agreed on the importance of an effective multilateral system, centred on a strong United Nations, as a key factor in tackling global challenges. In this context, they also recognized the need to pursue the reform of the main UN bodies, among them the General Assembly, ECOSOC and the Security Council, with a view to enhancing the representativeness, transparency and effectiveness of the system.
Climate change and energy
 India and the EU underlined that climate change is one of the most important global challenges. They reaffirmed the provisions and principles of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
 They recognised the scientific view that the increase in global average temperature above pre-industrial levels ought not to exceed 2 degrees Celsius. They recognised that this objective should take into account the overriding priority of poverty eradication and social and economic development of the developing countries. They will work together to achieve an ambitious and globally agreed equitable outcome of Copenhagen based on the principles and provisions of UNFCCC and the Bali Action Plan.
 Both India and the EU underline the importance of achieving security, sustainability and reliability of energy supplies. To this end the leaders welcomed the launch of the International Partnership for Energy Efficiency Cooperation (IPEEC) in May 2009 at the G8+5 Energy Ministerial Meeting in Rome and looked forward to a close EU-India cooperation in the framework if IPEEC.
International financial crisis and global economy
Leaders addressed the current international financial and economic crisis and its severe impact on the world’s Economy. They repeated their commitments to the decisions taken at the London and Pittsburgh G20 Summits to continue to sustain a strong policy response until the recovery is secured, to prepare internationally co-ordinated and cooperative exit strategies to be implemented once the recovery has taken hold, to strengthen and reform financial regulatory and supervisory systems to ensure global financial stability and prevent future crises, and to ensure that the International Financial Institutions reflect contemporary economic realities.
India and the EU reconfirmed their adherence to the G 20 commitment to refrain from adopting protectionist measures in all its forms covering trade in goods and services, investments and financial flows. They committed to rectify any such measures so as to avoid a further deterioration of international trade. They underlined the importance of successfully concluding in 2010 multilateral negotiations at the WTO for an ambitious, comprehensive and balanced agreement that fulfils the development objectives of the Round and welcomed the renewed momentum exerted by the Delhi Ministerial meeting in September 2009.
Food Security and Rural Poverty
• Both sides recognize that eradication of poverty and food insecurity is one of the greatest challenges of our times, especially in view of achieving the MDG-1 and the eradication of hunger worldwide. They furthermore recognize that the food crisis, which peaked during mid-2008, remains sensitive to a number of factors including the financial and economic crisis, and commodity prices fluctuations. The EU and India express their concern and will work closely together to enhance food security and fulfil the objectives of the Global Action Against Hunger and Poverty and to promote increased investments in agriculture, rural development and food security.
BILATERAL ISSUES
 The Leaders underscored that the successive Summit meetings have provided a solid ground for nurturing the strategic partnership between India and the EU. The Leaders affirmed their determination to further strengthen the Strategic Partnership and to cooperate both at the bilateral and global levels for the cause of peace, security and sustainable development for all. The Joint Action Plan (JAP), which was reviewed by the 2008 summit in Marseilles, and which has expanded to include diverse areas, is an important element of this partnership. The EU and India have the ambition to build on this to further deepen their dialogue, including on a political level.
 The EU and India confirmed the shared objective of concluding an ambitious and balanced Broad Based Trade and Investment Agreement, which will bring significant economic benefits to both sides and further strengthen the bilateral economic relationship. The EU and India took note of the progress made so far and agreed to intensify the negotiations with a view to concluding the Agreement as swiftly as possible.
 In the field of climate change and energy, they underlined the importance of an early implementation of the Joint Work Program on Energy, Clean Development and Climate Change, especially cooperation in solar energy, development of clean coal technology and increase in energy efficiency. In this context, they also welcomed the launch of call for proposals focusing on solar power technologies amounting to € 10 million, and the two EIB loans totalling € 250 Million.
 Both sides noted the ongoing cooperation under the India-EU energy panel and underlined the need also in this context to focus on energy efficiency, clean coal technology, energy conservation and renewable energy, and expressed their intent to develop expeditiously their cooperation efforts in these areas.
 They expressed satisfaction at the conclusion of the agreement between the EU and India in the field of fusion energy research and look forward to the early conclusion of the agreement on research and development in the field of peaceful use of nuclear energy.
 In the field of transport, both India and the EU expressed the hope that they will be able to resume their negotiations on a maritime agreement with a view to finalise them rapidly.
 India and the EU agreed that an urgent global effort was required to meet the MDGs and expressed their readiness to enhance their efforts to reduce global poverty. In the context of the EC-India development cooperation, both sides welcomed the preparations that are underway for agreeing on a new Multi-Annual Indicative Programme covering 2011-13 for which an indicative envelope of € 210 million will be made available, aimed at strengthening the social sectors, in particular education and health, as well as the continuation of activities identified under the EU-India Joint Action Programme. The EU has been a partner to India’s developmental efforts including especially in the social sector.
 The EU and India firmly share values of democracy, fundamental freedoms, pluralism, and rule of law, and believe strongly in the universality of Human Rights, as reflected in their dialogue on the same.
 India and the EU expressed the wish that the Joint Working Group on Agriculture pays particular attention to joint efforts towards agricultural productivity, economic growth and eradication of rural poverty and food insecurity. The Leaders also welcomed the launch of a joint call for proposals in the field of biotechnologies.
 The Summit welcomed the India-EU efforts in supporting joint research projects in solar energy launched within the 7th EU Research Program and the India-EU agreement in Science and Technology, as an important step to strengthen strategic cooperation in the area.
 In the field of Space, India is actively pursuing with the European Space Agency, the French National Space Agency and various other players in EU for developing, launching and operating Earth Observation and Communication satellites through appropriate bilateral relations.
 India and the EU recognised the importance of promoting people-to-people exchanges through the medium of culture and education and welcomed the signing of the India-EU Joint Declarations on Multilingualism and Education. The parties hope to advance negotiations regarding their Joint Declaration on Culture, aimed at establishing a policy dialogue on culture between the EU and India. The Leaders noted with appreciation the role of Indian and European civil society and of the EU-India round table, and agreed on the need to review its role in India-EU relations and to decide on its future activities.