With a new president in the United States who is set to turn his nation inward and contract his international commitments, including perhaps with his alliance partners,  the 27-nation European Union is seeking to diversify its “strategic” linkages. 

The College of European Commissioners will make its first visit abroad this year to India, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced Tuesday.

“The first trip of my new Commission will be to India. Together with Prime Minister Modi we want to upgrade the strategic partnership with the largest country and democracy in the world,” she told the World Economic Forum at Davos in her speech today.

Later her spokesperson, Paula Pinho , told a press conference in Brussels that the trip to India will take place in early spring.

“It is the College of Commissioners that will be travelling to India. And it should take early spring,” she noted.

The “College” is composed of Commissioners from the 27 EU member states. Together, these 27 members of the College are appointed as the Commission's political leadership for a five-year term. The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union.

 The EU and India had held their High Level Trade and Investment Dialogue in Brussels over the weekend and committed to develop their strategic agenda. The Dialogue was led by European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maros Sefcovic and  India’s Minister for Commerce and Industry of Piyush Goyal.

The two sides took stock at political level of progress in the EU-India Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations, notably on core issues of economic interest to both partners. The two sides  agreed to aim for a win-win outcome that supports the two economies in developing reliable clean tech supply chains fit for decades to come. 

 In press statements after the meeting Sefcovic said: “The EU-India partnership is an important one – for today as well as for the years to come – and therefore, we share the objective to  take it to the next level. We have therefore dedicated the past two days to discussing the best way forward for our trade and investment to reach new heights. Our teams now have the necessary steer to keep up the pace in our talks. The High Level Dialogue was a very successful one .”

Noting that the talks were held unusually on a weekend in the Belgian capital, Indian minister Goyal said this only goes to demonstrate the importance the European Union and India place on this partnership.

"I am very certain at the end of two days of significant conversation, free and frank dialogue that this will lay the foundation for a deeper understanding  of each other’s economies"

The potential for trade and investment and lay the foundation of a very fair equitable and balance free trade agreement between the EU and India.

We have also discussed that we will respect each other’s different level of economic development ging forward and come out fair solutions. 

Analysts note that India and the EU have resumed FTA negotiations in 2021, but have not make much progress due to differences on outstanding issues.

The second EU-India Trade and Technology Council (TTC) plenary meeting, expected to be scheduled soon, was also discussed, taking stock of how work is advancing in the different strands. 

In the margins of the High-Level Dialogue, Sefcovic also hosted a trilateral meeting with Minister Goyal and Director-General of the World Trade Organization Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. They exchanged views on ways to ensure that the multilateral trading system is made fit for purpose for the 21st century, said the statement.

India is a strategic partner for the EU, and the Commission is committed to developing the EU-India Strategic Agenda, while engaging in advancing negotiations for a balanced, ambitious, comprehensive  and mutually beneficial FTA together with the negotiations for an investment protection agreement and an agreement on geographical indications, it noted. 

(The author is an Indian journalist who is a long time resident in Brussels. Views are personal. He can be reached nawabbk98@gmail.com)