EC President Ursula von der Leyen Leads Historic EU Delegation Visit to India, Strengthening Bilateral Ties.
National
In February 2025, European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen, along with the European Union (EU) College of Commissioners, undertook a two-day visit to India from 27th to 28th February 2025. This marked the first-ever visit of the College of Commissioners outside the European continent and also the first visit in the history of India-EU bilateral relations.
- The visit focused on trade and investment, emerging technologies, innovation, talent, digital and green industrial transition, space, defense, and people-to-people exchanges.
- EC President von der Leyen met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi, Delhi, to strengthen the EU-India strategic partnership, emphasizing trade, technology, climate change, and security cooperation.
- On 28th February 2025, the 2nd India-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) meeting was held in New Delhi, where India and the EU committed to strengthening food security and sustainability, including early warning systems for active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) supply, and advancing renewable energy cooperation through solar energy, offshore wind, and green hydrogen technologies.
Main Point :- (i) India and the EU set a year-end deadline to finalize the long-negotiated bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA), which would become the world's largest trade deal of its kind.
(ii) India and the EU renewed their Science & Technology (S&T) partnership, originally signed in 2001, renewed in 2015 and 2020, and now extended for 2025-2030.
(iii) On 28th February 2025, Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh hosted a high-level European Union (EU) delegation led by Commissioner Andrius Kubilius in New Delhi to discuss expanding current and future collaborations between India and the EU in space exploration.
About European Commission (EC)
President : Ursula von der Leyen
Headquarters : Brussels, Belgium
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