The European Union chief executive will seek to increase the sale of European military equipment to India and resume talks on a free trade agreement when he meets with the Indian prime minister in New Delhi on Monday, a EU official said.
The visit of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is part of a Western effort to encourage India to reduce its ties with Russia following the Moscow invasion of Ukraine, and following last week’s visit by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. There are dozens of Western leaders reaching out to India right now to see what alternatives we can offer, “the EU chief executive said.” Our camp, that is the important message of our visit, ”said the official.
Von der Leyen arrived in India on Sunday for a two-day official visit, for the first time as president of the European Commission. India did not explicitly condemn the Feb. 24 by Russia, its largest supplier of military equipment.
Von der Leyen intends to agree with the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, to establish a new trade and technology council similar to the EU-U.S. the model, which can discuss digital privacy, technology company regulation and communication platform management, says a senior EU official.
The EU and India are likely to agree to resume free trade talks, which were suspended in 2013 due to differences in tax cuts and copyright protection, and have not made much progress since the EU-India summit in May 2021. India, second in the world. -a densely populated country with a population of about 1.4 billion, is seen by the EU as a key partner in helping to manage China’s rise from a humane trading partner to a rival power with a growing military presence.
A 2020 study by the European Parliament put the benefits of the EU-India trade agreement at 8.5 billion euros ($ 9.17 billion), although the estimate was made before Britain’s departure from the block.
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