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| EU and India — shaping a better tomorrow | | |
Jose Manuel Barroso
It is time for the two to work together even more closely.
INDIA AND the European Union are the world's two biggest democracies. Together they make up a quarter of the world's population. They are natural allies and partners in today's global village. We have already developed a strong relationship based on our common values. While we are already working together to face global issues and challenges successfully today, we are poised to collaborate even more closely to shape a better tomorrow for all of us. This is the simple message that I hope will come out of the 7th EU-India Summit taking place in Helsinki on October 13.
EU-India relations go far beyond annual Summits, important as they are. When the European Union, as the world's biggest trading bloc and the largest integrated single market economy, cooperates with the second most populous nation and the fourth largest economy (growing at one of the fastest rates) the significance of that partnership goes beyond their bilateral relations and impacts on global equations. The seeds of this kind of successful partnership are already in place.
Take for example Galileo, the European satellite navigation project, and ITER, the international thermo-nuclear experimental reactor, set up by a consortium led by the EU and initially comprising China, Japan, Russia, South Korea, and the U.S. Both are ambitious, long-term scientific projects that will change the face of the global transport and energy sectors once implemented. Both have one common element — India. It is a clear proof, if it were needed, that India is now a vital strategic partner for the EU, based on a level of cooperation which goes well beyond political meetings. India has joined the league of a select few in creating projects that will shape our world tomorrow.
It is not by coincidence that both Galileo and ITER are multinational projects, involving the EU and India, along with other key global players. It is an affirmation of the shared determination of both the EU and India to build a multi-polar world where multilateral institutions such as the UN and WTO play their full role in global governance.
Multilateralism
It is only by multilateralism that we can fight common global problems such as the scourge of terrorism, drug-trafficking, organised crime or even environmental degradation. It is only by this approach that we can revive the global trade talks at the WTO stalled since July this year. And this multilateral approach must be supplemented by regional cooperation arrangements. Our own experience in Europe in the last 60 years is clear proof that regional economic integration is the best way to achieve conflict resolution, peace and progress.
Our shared concerns are the foundations of an indispensable cooperation. The EU, like India, has been confronted with the phenomenon of terrorism within its own borders and adopted the fight against terrorism as a priority policy objective in full respect of human rights and diversity of faiths.
The EU and India must work together to avert the potential threats posed by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Both the EU and India are examples of the strength that multiculturalism can bring in today's world. India with its 22 official languages and many religious and ethnic identities is matched by an equally diverse Union of European citizens speaking a diverse range of languages — and practising many different faiths.
Our "development cooperation" with India, aimed at poverty alleviation and sustainable development, is moving from sector support programmes in primary and elementary education, and health and family welfare towards State Partnerships for which the States of Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan have been identified. Our "economic cooperation," aimed at promoting trade and investment, covers mutually beneficial sectors such as IT, civil aviation, maritime transport, and higher education. There are many mutual benefits to be gained by both sides from economic cooperation in areas such as civil aviation, maritime sector, the role of civil society, how to monitor sanitary and phyto-sanitary problems, and exporting to the rest of the world.
The Erasmus Mundus scholarships provide Indian students an opportunity to study at the best European universities. An aging EU can provide excellent labour market opportunities to a very populated and youthful India. The Indian diaspora in EU countries make an important contribution to the development of their adopted homelands while maintaining indirect links with India.
The traditional core of the EU-India relationship has been trade and investment. The EU continues to be India's first partner accounting for one-fourth of its total imports and exports as well as the biggest source of actual FDI into the country. Though the bilateral trade in 2005 touched 40 billion euros, the potential to develop this further is huge given the fact that India only accounts for less than 2 per cent of the EU's external trade. On trade, as with so many other areas, we must go further, faster to deepen our cooperation. Europe and India share a long past of common history, we are participating together in facing common challenges today. Now is the time to work together even more closely to shape a better tomorrow.
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