EUROPEAN COMMISSION
MEMO
Brussels, 29 January 2013
EU-India relations
EU-India relations: EU-India diplomatic relations were established in the early 1960s,
and expanded from an essentially trade and development relationship to an allencompassing cooperation as enshrined in the 1994 Cooperation Agreement. The latter
opened the door to regular political dialogue and economic/sectoral exchanges, which
have since evolved through annual Summits and regular ministerial, senior official and
expert-level meetings. These dialogues have delivered significant outcomes on political
and security issues as well as in trade and investment, science and technology, and
economic and development cooperation.
Strategic partnership - The EU-India relations were upgraded to a "Strategic Partnership" in
2004, reflecting both partners' desire to cooperate more closely on international issues in
the context of ever-increasing globalisation. During the 2005 Summit, Leaders adopted
the EU-India Joint Action Plan (JAP), reviewed in 2008, which defines common objectives
and proposed a wide range of supporting activities in the areas of political, economic, and
development co-operation. The 2006 Summit endorsed a proposal to prepare for the
negotiation of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA), negotiations for which are ongoing to this
day. Joint Declarations adopted over the years on areas as diverse as international
terrorism, energy, science and technology, and education have defined a substantial
positive agenda for cooperation which is allowing the EU and India to reach concrete and
tangible deliverables.
Political Cooperation - Since 2010, reflecting the strides taken on the EU side with the
entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, India and the EU have enhanced and rebalanced the
relationship beyond trade and economic cooperation, by substantially enhancing its
political dimension, with a special emphasis on security issues (including cyber security,
counter-terrorism and counter-piracy, and soon disarmament and non-proliferation) ,
while pursuing dialogue on foreign policy and cooperation on human rights
Human rights - Human rights issues are addressed in the EU-India Human Rights Dialogue
held locally in India on an annual basis. EU concerns have been expressed over minority
rights (including Dalits), communal violence, torture and security-related legislation, death
penalty, decent work, human rights defenders and women's rights.
MEMO/13/44
Trade and investment - The EU is India’s largest trade and investment partner. Total twoway trade in goods in 2011 was €79.8 billion, with EU goods exports to India of €40.4
billion and imports from India of €39.4 billion. This represented a year-on-year increase of
17% on 2010. Trade in goods between the partners has more than tripled from €25.6
billion in 2000. Two-way trade in Services in 2011 was €20.4 billion, taking overall
bilateral trade for the first time to €100 billion. Negotiations for an ambitious and
comprehensive FTA began in 2007 and intensive work continues with a view to completing
negotiations in the next months. Discounting Mauritius, the EU is also India's major inward
investor and the most important destination for outward investment from India.
Sectoral Dialogues - Shared sectoral interests are reflected in the working groups, policy
dialogues and exchanges established in recent years. The EU and India have dialogues in
several areas, such as: energy, environment, clean development and climate change,
agriculture, higher education and academic exchanges, science and innovation, migration
and mobility, macro-economy, financial services, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology,
statistics, and people-to-people contacts.
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