EU-INDIA STRATEGY
The European Union (EU) is a natural partner in supporting India’s sustainable growth. In November 2018, the EU released its new strategy for India, which clearly spells out both the necessity to address Energy, Water and Urbanisation challenges and the opportunities for the EU and India to collaborate on these important issues.
“India is a key player in our interconnected world”, said High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini. “We want to further reinforce our political, economic and people-to-people ties with India in order to address together global challenges, to promote together economic growth and to expand together business opportunities. The EU and India are committed to seize opportunities to support and promote effective multilateralism and solutions whenever peace and stability are in danger.”
PDF – EU Strategy on India
HOW THE EU WANTS TO PARTNER WITH INDIA!
India is a very important partner for the EU, as one of the fastest growing major economies that will reshape the global economy in the twenty-first century. Europe is India’s largest trading power. Two-way trade in goods and services between the EU and India reached over EUR 100 billion in 2017. Europe is one of the largest investors in India, with a stock of more than EUR 70 billion in investments. Close to 6,000 European companies are already present in India collectively providing direct employment to 1.2 million workers and indirect employment to 5 million workers.
As India is seeking to establish itself as a global hub for manufacturing, research and innovation, and aims to become a EUR 6.9 trillion economy by 2030. The EU recognises this opportunity and has set up strategic targeted policy dialogues with India to increase business collaborations, trade and investments.
This development is especially relevant for European businesses who seek to explore the Indian market. Click here to learn more about the Indian opportunities.
Policy Dialogues
India, with its large market and high growth rate, represents an important opportunity for EU companies and in particular EU SMEs. Currently, EU is India’s largest trading partner and India is the EU’s 9th largest trading partner. The European Union is also the largest investor in India. Nonetheless, EU commercial organizations and enterprises, notably SMEs, experience a variety of problems operating in India relating to market access, non-tariff barriers to trade and investment, lack of accurate information about the regulatory regimes applicable and practical restrictions and obstacles to commercial establishment.
The EU and India are working in close collaboration to strengthen ongoing policy dialogues in key areas, such as, environment, energy, climate, ICT and Urbanisation. Relevant projects have been set up that allow for technology transfer, multilateral exchange of expertise, as well as concrete business opportunities for EU businesses.