New Delhi: – India and the European Union concurred on forming an independent council for cooperation in trade and technology. The council was approved during the meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President of the European Commission, Ursula Von Der Leyen. At this time, European Commission chief Leyen assured that partnering with India in the coming decade will be a priority for the European Union. Reports of the EU offering defence technology-related cooperation to India also have been received.
Moreover, this is the first time India has set up an independent cooperation agency with a partner country for cooperation in trade and technology. The EU has set up an independent trade and technology council only with the United States till now. It had been said that the objective behind the formation of the trade and technology council by the United States and EU was to counter the Chinese domination and ambitions in these sectors.
China is the biggest trading partner of the European Union. Despite this, tensions have developed over various issues between the partners. Smaller countries in the Union decided to continue with the cooperation with Taiwan. China started threatening these countries. Also, China used oppression while crushing the pro-democracy agitation in Hongkong. China lashed out at the European countries objecting to that and threatened them with economic sanctions. The disputes between the European Union and China intensified, given all this.
This resulted in the cancellation of the trade talks between the European Union and China. Nearly around the same time, talks regarding free trade agreements had also started with India. Economists have claimed that this is not a mere coincidence and points to a significant change in the policies of the European Union. The cooperation between the European Union and India is now taking shape and concurrence on Trade and Technology Council seems to be a part of the same process.
