India –EU Agenda 2020

It is a common roadmap to jointly guide and strengthen the India-EU Strategic Partnership until 2020. Its key features include:

A. Foreign Policy and Security Cooperation

  • Regional Development: Strengthen foreign policy cooperation in areas of mutual interest such as Asia, Africa, the Middle East/West Asia, Europe, and other relevant areas. Explore possibilities for development partnership and triangular cooperation.
  • Peace and Security: Strengthen cooperation and work towards tangible outcomes on shared objectives of non-proliferation & disarmament, counter-piracy, counter-terrorism, cyber security, freedom of navigation in accordance with International law (UNCLOS), peace keeping, etc.

B. Trade and Investment, Business & Economy

  • Multilateral Engagement: Continue engagement at multilateral level, notably on global economic cooperation and governance in the G20 framework and in the ongoing WTO negotiations and accelerating services negotiations.
  • Sectoral Economic Cooperation: Continue ongoing cooperation and exchange of best practices with regard to intellectual property rights, registration of Geographical Indications in each other’s territories, cooperation on public procurement, customs and competition policy, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and medical devices and SME collaboration.

C. Global Issues/Sector Policy Cooperation

  • Climate Change: Develop cooperation on the implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement, Montreal Protocol.
  • Energy: Expand energy cooperation including on renewable energy, energy efficiency, smart grids, clean coal technology, energy security, and energy research & innovation.
  • SDG 2030: Identify opportunities for strengthened cooperation and coordination in international fora to support the implementation of SGDs.
  • Urban Development: Enhance EU-India cooperation on Urban Development with increasing involvement of Indian States and cities for implementation of ‘Smart Cities’ programme.
  • Information and Communications Technology (ICT): Create synergies between the “Digital India” initiative and the EU’s “Digital Single Market”. Cooperation on ICT standardisation, Internet Governance, innovative start-up companies (“Startup Europe India Network”), 5G, Cyber Security, Internet of Things, Cloud Computing, etc.

D. People-to-People

  • Migration & Mobility: Explore possibilities for further cooperation on migration and mobility issues of mutual interest.
  • Skill Development: Explore possibilities of cooperation in skills development, with the involvement of EU Member States, business, universities and other relevant stakeholders.
  • Education & Culture: Strengthen cooperation on education including through India’s GIAN programme and EU’s Erasmus+ programme; organisation of EU-India Higher Education Fairs; and working on issues such as access, quality, learning outcomes and benchmarking.

Related Content