India and the European Union (EU) have decided to strengthen ties in key areas of trade and security during their 14th summit.
The 28-member European bloc said in a statement issued recently that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the top EU leadership discussed important bilateral, regional and international issues during the 14th India-EU Summit held in New Delhi earlier this month and decided to boost bilateral strategic partnership.
According to the statement, Prime Minister Modi, European Council President Donald Franciszek Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker talked about the much-delayed bilateral trade pact and agreed to resolve the outstanding issues. Later, senior Indian and EU officials signed three agreements, including one on an international solar alliance, in the presence of three leaders.
Tusk expressed satisfaction over the bilateral ties, saying that the EU is India’s largest trading partner in the region with bilateral trade in goods at USD 88 billion in 2016. He also assured PM Modi that the bloc would remain the largest destination for Indian exports in the coming years.

For his part, the Indian premier said that his government would try hard to give the bilateral ties a new direction. On the occasion, he confirmed that the South Asian nation has received a Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of around USD 83 billion from Europe or 24% of total FDI inflows into the country in the last 17 years (2000-17).
Meanwhile, India and the EU underlined their common concern over terrorism, announcing that they would jointly combat terrorism “in all its forms and manifestations, based on a comprehensive approach”.
Modi, Tusk and Juncker strongly condemned the recent terror attacks in different parts of the world and urged the global community to unite against the terrorist threat. They also adopted a joint statement on counter-terrorism co-operation in an attempt to deal with foreign terrorists, terrorist financing and arms supply.

Modi

At the same time, they reaffirmed commitment to strengthen co-operation on maritime security in the Indian Ocean Region and beyond, apart from welcoming the resumption of tactical exercises between the EU’s Naval Force Operation ATALANTA and the Indian Navy in the Gulf of Aden.
As per the joint declaration on counter terrorism, Indian and the EU will counter violent extremism and radicalisation, particularly online. Talking to the local media, Secretary of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs Ruchi Ghanshyam said that it was the first time when the European bloc not only agreed to mention terrorist entities, but also (individual) terrorists in an India-EU document. She informed the press that the EU further agreed to cut the flow of funds and economic resources to individuals and other entities involved in terrorist activities.
Defence experts are of the opinion that the US’ diminishing role in global geopolitics has prompted India to urge the EU to come onto the centre-stage and become a global security provider.

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Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das