Jaishankar, Goyal Attend 2nd India-EU Trade & Technology Meet

On Friday, the second meeting of the Indo- EU Trade and Technology Council was conducted in New Delhi. The council responsible for the overseeing the trade and Technology relations between EU and India was created in February 2023 with the concept of increasing bilateral cooperation, trade, and investment along with, making use of both sides Industrial and technological prowess while preserving values held dear by both.

Minister S. Jaishankar tweeted the following: “Alongside my cabinet colleagues Piyush Goyal and Ashwini Vaishnaw, I attended the second meeting of the India-Europe Union Trade and Technology Council. I would like to extend my thanks to Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy of the European Commission, also Maros Sefcovic, Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security as well as Inter Institutional Relations and Transparency, and Ekaterina Zaharieva, the EU commissioner for Start up, Research and Innovation for their support."

He continues with: “I monitored the Clean Energy Initiatives, Digital Partnership, Trade and Investment and the Resilient Supply Chain workstreams. New opportunities for mutual trade in semiconductor, AI, 6G, EVs, Green Hydrogen were offered as well as a new, more advanced economy and trade relationship. I trust that the exchanges which took place today will result in new economic, trade and technology relations together with the country’s concerned resources.”

In February 2023, India and the European Union reported in a Joint Press note the creation of the three Working Groups of the India-EU Trade and Technology Council and their Terms of Reference (TTC).

TTC was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen when she came to India in April 2022. The TTC is a strategic cooperation tool that aims at enabling both sides to address issues at the intersection of trade, trusted technology, and security, thus expanding EU India relations.

With India, this TTC is only the second such Council for the EU and the first such arrangement for India. On the Indian side, the TTC is co-chaired by the Ministers of External Affairs, Commerce and Industry and Communications, Electronics, and Information Technology.

In the framework of TC, three Working Groups have been formed: Working Group on Strategic Technologies, Digital Governance and Digital Integration (connectivity). The group is chaired by Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.