Ministerial and bilateral meetings will help prepare the ground for the EU-India summit taking place in Delhi on 10 February 2012.

During the 11th EU-India Summit (Brussels, 10 December 2010), both parties agreed to strengthen the strategic partnership and rebalance it. Talks addressed the relationship’s political and security dimension (which they agreed to develop with a focus on counter-terrorism, counter-piracy and cyber-security), as well as the economic dimension, for which they discussed concluding an ambitious and balanced Free Trade Agreement in earnest.

In field of security, expert meetings have taken place on counter-terrorism, counter-piracy and cyber-security. The EU hopes that the summit will endorse a roadmap of concrete cooperation activities in these same areas in 2012.

Free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations have reached their final, critical stage. It is expected that the Summit will endorse a tight roadmap for conclusion in the coming months.

Relevant regional and global matters will be discussed. Both parties wish to see policy convergence and address international challenges in a joint manner.

EU-India relations date back to the early 1960s, when diplomatic relations were established. It was however the 1994 Cooperation Agreement – still the current legal framework for cooperation – that opened the door to the broad political dialogue that has since evolved. Since 2000 bilateral summits take place on an annual basis in addition to ministerial and expert-level meetings.

The EU-India Strategic Partnership created in 2004 recognises both sides’ political and economic importance, and enables them to address together complex international issues in the context of globalisation. 

• EU-India Relations
• EU Delegation to India