International Relations Flashcards
What were the key outcomes of the 15th India- EU virtual summit ?
1.India-Eu strategic partnership: “A roadmap to 2025”
was adopted to GUIDE PARTNERSHIP and COOPERATION between India and EU for next 5 years
2. Agreed to hold regular high level dialogues to guide negotiations on BTIA and to address MULTILATERAL ISSUES of interest
3. Agreement between India-EURATOM
(European Atomic Energy Community) on
research and development cooperation in the
peaceful uses of nuclear energy was signed
4.Adopted declarations on Resource Efficiency
and Circular Economy
5. Decided to launch a
dialogue on maritime security
6. Renewed agreement on Scientific cooperation.
What is the trade picture of EU with India?
- EU is the largest trading partner of India, accounts for 11 percent of India’s global trade, is at par with the US and ahead of China.
- India however accounts for only 1.9 percent of EU’s global trade. India is EU’s 10 largest trading partner as of 2019.
Trade in goods between the EU and India increased by 72% in the last decade.
Trade in services between the EU and India increased rapidly from €22.3 billion in 2015 to €29.6 billion in 2018.
The EU’s share in foreign investment inflows to India more than doubled from in the last decade, making the EU the first foreign investor in India.
EU foreign direct investment stocks in India is way below EU foreign investment stocks in China or Brazil
Some 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.
Indian companies invested over €50 billion in Europe since 2000.
Which Indian centre has been linked up with MSC-HOA?
Information Fusion Centre – Indian Ocean Region in New Delhi (IFC-IOR) has recently been linked-up with
the Maritime Security Centre – Horn of Africa (MSC-HOA) established by the EU Naval Force (NAVFOR).
How have India and EU cooperated in the SCience and Technology field?
o EU is supporting the MOBILIZE YOUR CITY (MYC) programme in India currently in three pilot cities to REDUCE their URBAN transport-related Green House Gas (GHG) emissions.
o India and the EU set up an ENERGY PANEL in 2005 for cooperation in energy and energy security and both
cooperate on forums such as EU-India Clean Energy Cooperation and India-EU Water Partnership.
o Also, both have official mechanisms in fields such as Digital Communications, 5G technology,
Biotechnology, artificial intelligence etc.
What are the key factors shaping India-EU relationship?
o Changing Geopolitical developments: As highlighted by EU strategy on India, released in 2018, EU sees
EU-India relations in the context of broader geopolitical developments, primarily the rise of China.
Impact of China in Europe and Asia (e.g. Belt and Road initiative) has pushed EU to change the nature of
its partnerships in the region, particularly with India.
o Convergence of interests in the Indian Ocean: Increasing Naval base race and security competition in the
Indian Ocean region will impact both Europe and India as the Indian Ocean is the main conduit for global
trade and energy flows. India, EU see each other as partners in securing the Indian Ocean by
strengthening institutions, rule of law, and a regional security architecture.
o Retreat of the U.S. from global leadership and uncertainty of US policy under Trump has provided
opportunities for EU- India cooperation and trilateral dialogues with countries in the Middle Fast, Central
Asia and Africa.
o Strategic rivalry between the US and China: Both EU and India have a common interest in avoiding a
bipolarized world and sustaining a rules-based multilateral trading system with the United Nations and
the World Trade Organization at its core.
o Green governance: After the US exit from the Paris climate agreement, India and the EU stand to gain
from a joint leadership on global governance matters such as climate change, clean energy or circular
economy.
o New emerging world order after COVID-19: As EU seeks to move away from a global supply chain that is
overly dependent on China, India can emerge as its most natural ally. EU and India could find a common
path in ensuring supply chain resilience to reform the global system in response to health emergencies
Why the stall in BTIA?
Concerns in relations
• Stalled EU-India BTIA: It is being negotiated since 2007 and
both sides have major differences on crucial issues such as
o EU’s demands: significant duty cuts in automobiles, tax reduction on wines, spirits etc, a strong intellectual
property regime, relaxation in India’s data localisation
norms, protection to all its items with Geographical
Indication etc.
o India’s demands: ‘Data secure’ status (important for
India’s IT sector); Ease norms on temporary movement
of skilled workers, relaxation of Sanitary and
Phytosanitary (SPS) and Technical Barriers to Trade
(TBT) norms etc.
• Trade imbalance: India accounts for only 1.9% of EU total
trade in goods in 2019, well behind China (13.8%).
• India’s perception of EU: It views EU primarily as a trade bloc, preferring bilateral partnerships with Member States for all political and security matters. This is evident from lack of substantive agreements on matters such as regional security and connectivity.
• Brexit: It is unclear how U.K.’s withdrawal from EU will
affect India’s relation with EU as whole.
• Human Rights concerns of EU: The European Parliament was critical of both the Indian government’s decision to scrap Jammu and Kashmir’s special status in 2019 and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
