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India, EU leadership summit 'turning point' in ties, says EU Envoy Ugo Astuto

Calling India, EU Leadership Summit of May 8 a "turning point" in ties, the European Union's Envoy to India Ugo Astuto has said, "We want to work together so that we can shape the global agenda". This is the second time this format of one world leader and all 27 EU member states meet happened, the first was with US President in March this year.

Speaking to WION, Envoy Astuto spoke about the connectivity partnership, a key outcome of the summit saying, "connectivity" should be "grounded in principles such as sustainability... transparency." The other key outcome of the summit was both sides decided to resume talks on India, EU Free trade agreement.

On Indo-Pacific, the Envoy said the Bloc's strategy is "close to the Indian vision" and "India is clearly a key player" in the region. In April, the European Council approves conclusions on EU's Indo-Pacific strategy. He also spoke on EU's assistance to India amid the Covid crisis, with flights from Finland, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Slovenia, Portugal, Malta expected to come to India soon.

On the outcome of the India-EU leadership summit, Envoy Astuto said, "It has been an extremely successful meeting. It has been described as a turning point, a historic meeting. The meeting has taken place against the backdrop of this major crisis of COVID, what emerged is a clear message of solidarity from EU and its member states vis a vis India in difficult times. India has been leading by supporting the rest of the world since the outset of the emergency, by exporting medicines and vaccines. We are trying to help India as much as we can that is why we have set up this operation within the civil protection mechanism. We have agreed on a connectivity partnership which I believe is an important platform grounded in our common belief in a rules-based system of international governance, cooperative approach to international relations."

In terms of FTA, the resumption of talks has been since it has been announced. On the timeline, the Envoy said, "These are complex negotiations. But what we have taken is the decision to resume the talks, the formal negotiations, and at the last summit in 2020, we had a high-level dialogue chaired by minister Goyal from the Indian side, on the European side by the executive vice president. This dialogue has proved to be very effective."

Indian PM Narendra Modi mentioned Covid vaccine patent waiver. EU leadership has also talked about it. On expecting movement from Brussels, he said, "We are ready to discuss it, it's a very serious issue. Our priority is to how best to ramp up the production of vaccines worldwide. That is why the European Union has been leading in the creation of the COVAX initiative and we are among the largest contributors."

On Indo-Pacific engagement, Astuto said, "You are familiar with the council conclusions adopted a couple of weeks ago. The council's conclusions make it clear that European Union is a stakeholder in the Indo-Pacific. We want to shape, a strategy for the Indo-Pacific, which we believe is close to the Indian vision. India is clearly a key player in the Indo-Pacific. It has been an active player and has been developing its own vision and there are obvious convergences and space for the EU and India to work together."

On the assistance to India, he said, "We have additional member states joining in. Flights will be coming from Finland, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Slovenia, Portugal, Malta. The list gets longer every day, it a massive joint effort by all 27 member states coordinated by the EU civil protection mechanism and everyday planes landing."

"It a concrete testimony, to the fact that we have a strong partnership between the EU and India which I am sure will emerge stronger from this crisis. We have been helping each other as much as we could," the envoy concluded saying.

Source : DNA India

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