EU-India: Strategic Partners in 2020 and beyond’ – European External Action Service

New Delhi, 15 January 2020. Leading think tanks from India and the European Union met in Delhi on the sidelines of the Raisina Dialogue yesterday to discuss "EUIndia: Strategic Partners in 2020 and beyond" against the background of the closer partnership in recent years, the new EU Strategy on India announced in November 2018, and the current global geo-political environment.

The event saw the participation of senior researchers and experts from the EU and India, representatives of the EU Member States in India and senior officials from the EU institutions in Brussels. Foreign policy, defence and security, digitalization, climate action, and connectivity were identified as key areas of cooperation as part of the EU India strategic partnership.

Talking about the strong strategic partnership between the EU & India, Ambassador of the European Union to India, H.E. Mr. Ugo Astuto said, “We are working together to further strengthen our Strategic Partnership. The EU and India together can make a difference in fostering multilateralism, a rules-based world order and facing global challenges such as climate change”.

Delivering the opening remarks, Dr. Samir Saran, President of the Observer Research Foundation, said, "Increased representation of the EU and its member states highlights the significance of EU in India and the world. Climate change, technology and enhanced channels of communication on global challenges should be the key focus areas for engagement going forward for the world's two largest democracies."

Ms. Caroline Vinot, Head of Division for Regional Affairs and South Asia, European External Action Service (EEAS) said, "the EU-India strategic partnerships must grow and this requires long-term investments. Tackling climate change and green economy are top priorities of the EU-India cooperation. On the ground at a practical level EU-India partnerships are getting richer and high-level visits like the first visit of Josep Borrell, the new High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the European Commission at the Raisina Dialogue, will help strengthen EU-India relations further.”

Making a case for the EU and India to work even more closely, Dr. C Raja Mohan, Director, Institute of South Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore, said, "We need each other to navigate the uncertain world. The geopolitical situation necessitates India and EU work together more closely."

The conference was organized under the EU-India Think Tanks Twinning Initiative (TTTI), a European Union Delegation to India supported project designed to foster ideas for strengthening cooperation between the two democracies. It comprised a high-level session with Ambassador Astuto, Ambassador (rtd) Bhaswati Mukerjee, and Dr C Raja Mohan on ‘EU and India global priorities’, with further sessions on the ‘Key Challenges in 2020’ and ‘Taking Forward the EU-India Strategic Partnership’.

The event also saw the launch of the EU publication ‘Strengthening the EU-India Strategic Partnership through Research’, a compilation of summaries of joint research papers on EU-India relations produced under the EU TTTI project covering multiple strategic issues including emerging technologies, Indian Ocean commerce, EU-India security and defence cooperation, and connectivity.

Conference participants included representatives from Indian and European think tanks and institutions including Brookings India; Carnegie India; Chatham House, Clingendael Institute, Netherlands;; Friends of Europe, Brussels; Gateway House - Indian Council on Global Relations, Mumbai; Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi; Istituto Affari Internazionali, Rome; Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi; Institute of International Relations, Prague; Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) Brussels; Open Society European Policy Institute (OSEPI); and the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS).

About the EU-India Think Tank Twinning Initiative (TTTI):

The EU-India TTTI was launched with the support of the EU Delegation to India in 2015 to promote better understanding and stimulate joint research between leading Indian and EU Think Tanks. It aims to foster such interaction through joint projects including research publications and events. The initiative feeds into the EU-India strategic relationship by suggesting concrete ideas and recommendations on how the EU and India can further strengthen their cooperation in the fields of foreign and security policy and global governance. The EU currently supports four EU-India think tank consortiums engaged in joint research to provide policy analysis and informed guidance to leadership in Europe and India. Since 2015, TTTI has provided innovative research on EU-India cooperation in a number of areas, including; Perspective on BRI, cooperation in connectivity, maritime security, counter-terrorism, defence, urbanization, crisis management to counter natural disasters, space, cyber security and data protection, peace building and global governance, and in other regions such as Central Asia, Africa, West Asia and Afghanistan.

To view the booklet ‘Strengthening the EU-India Strategic Partnership through Research’, a compilation of joint research papers on EU-India relations produced under the EU TTTI project, please visit:

https://euindiathinktanks.in/eu-india-think-tanks-twinning-initiative-booklet/

For press enquiries: Poonam.kapila@eeas.europa.eu