The Hindu Business Line : EU to upgrade relations with India

THE European Union (EU) has proposed to firm up "a strategic partnership" with India at the forthcoming EU-India summit in the Hague, Netherlands on November 8.

Disclosing this to newspersons here, the Ambassador of the Netherlands, Mr Eric F.Ch. Niehe, representing the Presidency of the EU, said, "There is a consensus among the EU members. EU is keen on upgrading the EU-India relationship to the level of strategic partners as in the case of the US, China, Russia, Canada and Japan."

The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, is leading a high-level delegation, which includesthe External Affairs Minister, Mr Natwar Singh, and the Commerce and Industry Minister, Mr Kamal Nath, to meet with his European counterparts, led by the Netherlands Prime Minister, Mr Jan Peter Balkenede, and the President of the European Commission, Mr Romano Prodi, at this bilateral summit.

The EU-India summit is the fifth in an annual series that began in Lisbon (Portugal) in June 2000 and has since been carried forward in New Delhi (November 2001), Copenhagen (October 2002) and New Delhi (November 2003).

The head of the EC delegation in India, Mr Francisco da Camara Gomes, said that the EU and Indian leaders would discuss a wide range of bilateral, regional and global issues at the summit. He said that given both the EU and India's stand by multilateralism in global relations, the summit leaders would cover their participation in the UN and other global bodies in a more coherent manner. They would also dwell at length on multilateral issues such as counter-terrorism, disarmament and climate change and regional developments.

The summit is likely to endorse an agenda for action to implement the ideas and proposals put forth by the European Commission in a Communication "An EU-India Strategic Partnership", issued on June 16, 2004. The European Council and the European Parliament have since endorsed this paper and the Indian Government too has hailed it.

The crucial features of the forthcoming summit would also include the first-ever EU-India Cultural declaration, the creation of an India-EU energy panel, and the launch of a euro 33-million scholarship programme to enable Indian graduate and post-graduate students to study in EU varsities.

Other `deliverables' to be endorsed by the Hague Summit include the creation of joint workshops in automotive engineering, genomics and life sciences and nanotechnology, he added.