{"id":13962,"date":"2021-02-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-08T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/current_affairs\/uncategorized\/08-02-2021\/1st-india-eu-high-level-dialogue-on-trade-and-investment-held\/"},"modified":"2025-09-11T18:31:52","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T13:01:52","slug":"1st-india-eu-high-level-dialogue-on-trade-and-investment-held","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/08-02-2021\/1st-india-eu-high-level-dialogue-on-trade-and-investment-held","title":{"rendered":"1st India-EU High-Level Dialogue on Trade and Investment held"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>In News<\/strong>: The <strong>First High-Level Dialogue (HLD)<\/strong> <strong>as agreed under 15th India-EU Leaders Summit, 2020<\/strong> was held on <strong>5th Jan 2021<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Key Outcomes:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Both emphasised the need to deepen global cooperation and solidarity via regular engagement in the Post COVID era.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Next meeting in 3 months with the aim to arrive at a consensus on different bilateral trade and investment relations viz. <strong>bilateral Regulatory Dialogue; an India-EU Multilateral Dialogue.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Both decided to reinvigorate the renewed India-EU commercial and Economic Partnership to achieve full potential.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Challenges Ahead<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For a successful India-EU trade pact both need to be harmonious, strong and stable but the situation seems a bit different. Few <strong>challenges are as listed below:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Reasons behind the failure of the previous <strong>Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement, 2007<\/strong> are still the same. The <strong>mutual differences<\/strong> are over issues like\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>The movement of professionals, labour, human rights and environmental issues<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>India\u2019s high tariffs, inconsistent tax regime and non-payment of arbitral awards<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Brexit<\/strong>: Before Brexit, the EU had GDP equal to the USA and was one of the major trade partners of India. Now, the EU is relatively weak.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Further 3 major challenges which may weaken the EU and in turn hamper prospects of India-EU Deal are as follows<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Turbulent situation in the European Union<\/strong>:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Internal Discord<\/strong>: After a long negotiation, the EU was able to take Hungary and Poland onboard for COVID-19 recovery package of USD 2 trillion.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Euroscepticism<\/strong>: Many countries have soon coming elections and <strong>eurozone and migration crises and implementing COVID-19 lockdowns<\/strong> may be a major issue raised. It will further destabilise the unity of the EU.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Further, <strong>sentiments against Islam and anti-secular migrants<\/strong> may create trouble.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>No agreement over Security and Defence<\/strong>: France wants more autonomy while Germany, Netherlands and Portugal want to rely on NATO.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>International Scenario<\/strong>: The key driver over here was Trump\u2019s Policies.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It forced the EU to relook into its<strong> self reliance in Defence, Economy, Security and Supply chains<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Turkey, China, Russia and Iran have flouted different Treaty Rules<\/strong> due to Trump\u2019s Foreign Policies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>COVID-19 crisis<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Netherlands saw riots first time in the last 40 years<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Divisive Vaccine Nationalism<\/strong> and few initial <strong>restrictions by Germany and France on the export of PPE kits<\/strong> has created a mutual distrust.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Anticipated <strong>60% shortfall in vaccine procurement<\/strong> is challenging an already turbulent EU.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Way Forward<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As said by <strong>John Adams<\/strong>, \u201c<strong>every problem is an opportunity in disguise<\/strong>\u201d, India should climb up the scenario in pursuit to strengthen and maintain Europe\u2019s unity and integrity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>India can help the EU by sending its own Indigenous Vaccines.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>India should also seek <strong>technology transfer and deeper defence and economic tie-ups<\/strong> with Europe to diversify the supply chain of the EU.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>India can also pose as a soft power with the example of <strong>Unity in Diversity<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>India can be a great player in ensuring the EU&#8217;s solidarity and hence the trade deal will be mutually beneficial and should be forwarded with enormous political will and adroit skill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><tbody><tr><td><br><p><strong>Background: India EU Relations<\/strong><\/p><br><ul><br><li><strong>India-EU bilateral relations<\/strong> date back to the early 1960s with India being amongst the first countries to establish diplomatic relations with the European Economic Community in 1962.<\/li><br><li><strong>EU-India Cooperation Agreement 1994<\/strong> provides the legal framework for <strong>EU-India relations<\/strong>. India and the EU have been <strong>strategic partners since 2004.<\/strong><\/li><br><li>Since the <strong>Lisbon summit in 2000<\/strong>, India has belonged to a small group of countries including the US, China, Russia, Japan and Canada among others with whom the EU holds regular summits.<\/li><br><li>The relationship was upgraded to a<strong> \u2018Strategic Partnership\u2019 during the 5th India-EU Summit <\/strong>held in 2004 in The Hague.<\/li><br><li>The <strong>14th India-EU Summit<\/strong> was held on 6 October 2017 in New Delhi.<\/li><br><\/ul><br><p><strong>Trade &amp; Investment<\/strong>&#8211;<\/p><br><ul><br><li><strong>EU is India&#8217;s largest trading partner<\/strong>, accounting for <strong>11.1% of total Indian trade<\/strong>, on par with the USA and ahead of China (10.7%) in 2019 where as India is EU\u2019s 10th largest trading partner<\/li><br><li><strong>EU is the second-largest destination for Indian exports<\/strong> (over <strong>14%<\/strong> of the total) after the USA<\/li><br><li>Trade in goods between the <strong>EU and India increased by 72%<\/strong> in the last decade.<\/li><br><li>Nearly 6,000 European companies are present in India, providing directly 1.7 million jobs and indirectly 5 million jobs in a broad range of sectors.<\/li><br><\/ul><br><table border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" style=\"width:611px\"><br><tbody><br><tr><br><td style=\"vertical-align:top; width:458.0pt\"><br><figure><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"height:215px; width:595px\" src=\"https:\/\/cfstatic.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/file_library\/mix_content\/94811635331219860_image.png\"><\/figure><br><\/td><br><\/tr><br><tr><br><td style=\"vertical-align:top; width:458.0pt\"><br><figure><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"height:211px; width:595px\" src=\"https:\/\/cfstatic.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/file_library\/mix_content\/613215342074454300_image.png\"><\/figure><br><\/td><br><\/tr><br><tr><br><td style=\"vertical-align:top; width:458.0pt\"><br><figure><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"height:225px; width:595px\" src=\"https:\/\/cfstatic.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/file_library\/mix_content\/726858738680042400_image.png\"><\/figure><br><\/td><br><\/tr><br><tr><br><td style=\"vertical-align:top; width:458.0pt\"><br><p>Fig: India-EU Trade at a glance (Source: European Union)<\/p><br><\/td><br><\/tr><br><\/tbody><br><\/table><br><p><strong>Deadlock in Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA):<\/strong><\/p><br><ul><br><li>The negotiations on this agreement were started in 2007 in Brussels, Belgium.<\/li><br><li>It covered<br><ul><br><li>Trade in Goods,<\/li><br><li>Trade in Services, Investment, Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures,<\/li><br><li>Technical Barriers to Trade, Trade Remedies,<\/li><br><li>Rules of Origin, Customs and Trade Facilitation, Competition, Trade Defence,<\/li><br><li>Government Procurement,<\/li><br><li>Dispute Settlement,<\/li><br><li>Intellectual Property Rights &amp; Geographical Indications,<\/li><br><li>Sustainable Development<\/li><br><\/ul><br><\/li><br><li>The problems crept in over the issues like<br><ul><br><li>The EU wanted to include the <strong>environment, labour, and government procurement<\/strong> in the talks.<\/li><br><li><strong>Data secure status<\/strong> and <strong>Easy Visa policy<\/strong> were major demands by India<\/li><br><\/ul><br><\/li><br><\/ul><br><p><strong>Sectoral Cooperation<\/strong>&#8211;<\/p><br><ul><br><li><strong>Infrastructure<\/strong><br><ul><br><li><strong>European Investment Bank (EIB)<\/strong> opened its <strong>first office for the South Asian<\/strong> region in 2017, headquartered in New Delhi.<\/li><br><li>The EIB has extended loans for the Lucknow Metro Project and the Bangalore Metro Phase II Project<\/li><br><\/ul><br><\/li><br><li><strong>Energy<\/strong><br><ul><br><li>Joint Working Groups have been constituted under the<strong> India-EU Energy Panel to deal with Coal, Clean Coal Technology, Energy Efficiency\/ Renewable Energy.<\/strong><\/li><br><\/ul><br><\/li><br><li><strong>Environment<\/strong><br><ul><br><li><strong>India-EU Joint Working Group on Environment<\/strong>: Deals with prevention of pollution, waste minimisation, protection of Biological diversity, sustainable forest management, environmental education etc.<br><ul><br><li>Joint Working Group\u2019s Meeting held in New Delhi in 2017 <strong>created India- EU Environment Forum<\/strong>.<\/li><br><\/ul><br><\/li><br><li>\u00a0<strong>EU Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries<\/strong> led a <strong>Circular Economy Mission<\/strong> to India in 2018.<br><ul><br><li>Its aim was deepening cooperation in policy formulation and fostering business opportunities<\/li><br><\/ul><br><\/li><br><\/ul><br><\/li><br><li><strong>Different Joint Working Groups on Water; Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology &amp; Medical Devices; Agriculture and Marine<\/strong> and a <strong>dialogue on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)<\/strong> were also set up to deepen cooperation in respective fields.<\/li><br><li><strong>Horizontal Agreement on Civil Aviation<\/strong> between India and the EU, which was signed in 2008 became operational in February 2018.<\/li><br><\/ul><br><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/opinion\/lead\/an-india-eu-trade-pact-may-still-remain-elusive\/article33776423.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>TH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In News: The First High-Level Dialogue (HLD) as agreed under 15th India-EU Leaders Summit, 2020 was held on 5th Jan 2021. Key Outcomes: Challenges Ahead: For a successful India-EU trade pact both need to be harmonious, strong and stable but the situation seems a bit different. Few challenges are as listed below: Way Forward: As [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13963,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2023\/07\/5587784current-affairs.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13962"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53765,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13962\/revisions\/53765"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}