The President of the European Commission and College of Commissioners visited India during 27-28 February 2025. President Ursula von der Leyen's visit is viewed as a landmark, marking the first visit of the College of Commissioners beyond Europe since the beginning of their new mandate and in the history of India-EU bilateral ties as well. The second meeting of the India-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) also took place. Science, technology and innovation continue to be an important pillar for the India-EU partnership. Though, their discussions revolved around several aspects of trade, supply chains, investments and defence cooperation, etc. science and technology remained the fulcrum, given their huge potential for India-EU collaboration.
Both sides recognised the importance of emerging technologies and committed to leverage their respective strengths towards human-centric and responsible digital transformation and development of advanced technologies like AI, high performance computing, 6G, etc. Given the growing role of India and EU in the global governance of AI, the European AI Office and India AI Mission agreed to deepen cooperation, to encourage an ecosystem of innovation and foster information exchange for developing trustworthy AI as well as developing tools and frameworks for ethical and responsible AI. Recognising the growing significance of semiconductors, the India-EU Trade and Technology Council aims to shape outcome-oriented cooperation in order to strengthen semiconductor ecosystems. In this direction, the progress in the implementation of MoU on semiconductors for boosting the semiconductor supply chains, leveraging complementary strengths, facilitating talent exchanges and fostering semiconductor skills among students and young professionals was welcomed. Additionally, a MoU between Bharat 6G alliance and the EU 6G Smart Networks and Services Industry Association was also signed for creating secured and trusted telecommunications and resilient supply chains.
India and EU also aim to expand and deepen cooperation in clean energy and climate, water, smart and sustainable urbanization, and disaster management as well as work to intensify cooperation in specific areas such as clean hydrogen, offshore wind, solar energy, and sustainable urban mobility. India and EU are members of several mega science projects and research collaborations through which they contribute to capacity building in several S&T fields, including space, energy, healthcare, and climate change. EU member states like France and Germany are deeply involved in the International Solar Alliance (ISA) and are active members of the Coalition of Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI). Thus, there is immense scope for deepening EU’s cooperation in these multilateral efforts. The EU has a strong biofuel policy framework, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Further, deepening India-EU partnership through the Global Biofuels Alliance would also help to intensify global efforts to diversify energy sources and reduce emissions. Thus, renewable energy and climate change is a critical area of cooperation between India and the EU. In this context, the agreement on holding an India-EU Green Hydrogen Forum and the India-EU Business Summit on Offshore Wind Energy was also welcomed.
The space and geospatial sector has been identified as another area of cooperation between India and the EU. India has recently launched the National Geospatial Mission. Cooperation opportunities in this sector include joint space missions and explorations, satellite developments as well as data sharing and use of space technologies for environmental monitoring, disaster response and sustainable development. The United States withdrawal from the World Health Organisation as a key funder is likely to have major implications for global health. Additionally, absence from the international agreements on health like the Pandemic Treaty offers scope for India and the European Union to take centre stage to prioritise and jointly take up issues concerning global health to combat global health threats, sharing data and jointly develop vaccines and treatments for emerging diseases and future pandemics.
With long-term India-EU Strategic Partnership, there is immense scope for India-EU cooperation in several areas of common bilateral interests. India-EU partnership can also play a crucial role in addressing global challenges like climate change, exploring renewable energy alternatives and global health, strengthening both regions’ influence on the global stage.