Moving forward the EU-India Security Dialogue: Final presentation in Brussels

On 9 December 2016 a roundtable presentation of the key finding resulted from the project “Moving Forward the EU-India Security Dialogue: Traditional and Emerging Issues” was held in Brussels as part of the “EU-India Think Tank Twinning Initiative”. The purpose of this meeting was to present the final findings and the policy recommendations in order to inform and advice policy-makers on practical ways to move the EU-India Security Dialogue forward.

The final presentation was the third of a series of three roundtables organized by Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) in partnership with Gateway House, Indian Council on Foreign Relations (GH).

The discussion was introduced by Fraser Cameron, Director, EU Asia Centre, who explained to the audience the main aspects of the “EU-India Think Tank Twinning Initiative”. The main presentation was given afterwards by Nicola Casarini, Research Head for Asia, Istituto Affari Internazionali, who highlighted the key findings related to the five topics selected by IAI and GH for their potential to promote the EU-India strategic partnership. They are:

• Maritime security and freedom of navigation from the South China Sea to the Mediterranean;
• Cyber-security and data-protection;
• Space policy and satellite navigation cooperation;
• EU-India industrial defence cooperation;
• The challenges ahead in EU-India relations.

After the presentation, Veronica Cody, Head of Division for Regional Affairs, India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan, EEAS, replied to some of the points raised by Dr. Casarini explaining what the EU is trying to do vis-à-vis India, including discussion of the current opportunities, and challenges, of the EU-India relationship. Following Ms. Cody’s intervention, there were a number of questions and interventions from the audience, including a few insightful remarks given by Inbasekar S, First Secretary, Embassy of India in Belgium, focusing on EU-India data protection and cyber security cooperation.

Overall, the discussion was very lively and raised a number of important points that the policy makers attending the meeting considered having potential to move forward the EU-India strategic partnership.