New Delhi [India], January 27 (ANI): Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said that there were key documents that were signed and exchanged before the leaders and landmark talks were held on the EU-India Free Trade Agreement.
Misri was accompanied by Union Minister Piyush Goyal and Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agarwal at the Special Briefing on the State visit of the President of EU Council and the President of EU Commission to India, where he said that over the last decade, the relations between India and the European Union have grown steadily.
Misri said, "Today, Presidents Antonio Costa and Ursula von der Leyen and Prime Minister Modi co-chaired the 16th India-EU summit. They held detailed bilateral talks, both in the restricted format and in the delegation-level format."
"There were several key documents that were signed and exchanged before the leaders, including the joint announcement on the conclusion of the negotiations of a landmark and historic India-EU free trade agreement, an equally important security and defence partnership agreement between the two sides, and an MOU on a comprehensive framework on cooperation on mobility, among others. Prime Minister and President von der Leyen also addressed the India-EU Business Forum in Bharat Mandapam, where more than 100 CEOs from both sides participated," he added.
Talking about the visit of President of the European Council, Antonio Costa, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen to India, Misri said that outcomes of the visit are deeply strategic in nature.
"The outcomes are deeply strategic in nature. Over the last decade, the relations between India and the European Union have grown steadily. They have grown not just in scale but in significance as well, as evidenced by the level and frequency of contacts and engagements between the two sides. In our fast-changing world, the strategic partnership between India and the EU has a value beyond the bilateral context, particularly as we witness shifts in the global economic, technological, and strategic landscape," he said.
Misri said that the EU and India, both are huge markets, and have high stakes with regards to the concentration of manufacturing chains.
"As the world's second and fourth largest markets, India and the EU also have very high stakes on all critical global challenges of the day, including over-dependence and concentration of global manufacturing and supply chains on a limited set of geographies, an ineffective multilateral system, emerging multipolarity, and growing protectionist tendencies in different parts of the world. And therefore, as two large pluralistic democracies and open market economies, our leaders have resolved to take this very strategic partnership forward for mutual benefit and for the greater good of the global population as a whole," he said.
On the India-EU FTA, Misri said that it was a very important matter on the agenda and there was a consensus on the fact that the IMEC initiative is one that should be taken forward.
India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) comprises of an Eastern Corridor connecting India to the Gulf region and a Northern Corridor connecting the Gulf region to Europe. It will include a railway and ship-rail transit network and road transport routes.
"Connectivity is a very important thread in the agenda between India and the EU. It was on the agenda today, there was a discussion about it, and there was consensus on the fact that the IMEC initiative is one that should be taken forward, and we should now graduate from the working-level meetings that have taken place to higher-level meetings, culminating in a summit of the IMEC member countries. So between Europe and India, we are united on this, and we will take this forward with the other collaborators within IMEC," as per Misri.
Official Spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, Randhir Jaiswal on Tuesday said that President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen and Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired the India-EU Business Forum.