Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen,

Excellencies,

Ladies & Gentlemen of the Press,

Prime Minister. It gives me great pleasure to thank you for your hospitality and for the warmth of your reception. I would like to convey my deep appreciation to the leadership of the European Commission present here. We have enormously benefited by their wisdom.

The consolidation of strategic partnership with the European Union is a foreign policy priority for India. The EU is not only India's largest trading partner, it is also our largest source of Foreign Direct Investment and of high technology collaborations.

This morning we reviewed the progress made in the implementation of the Joint Action Plan that was agreed upon by India and the European Union during the Summit in New Delhi in September last year.

Both sides are united in their determination to further deepen our political and strategic dialogue and expand our economic and trade relations. There was strong recognition that India's ongoing economic liberalization has opened up enormous opportunities for EU countries.

There is also a commitment for dealing with issues that hamper bilateral trade and investment ties. The India-EU Business Summit, which was held yesterday, was a useful forum to strengthen Business to Government and Business to Business ties. Both Prime Minister Vanhanen and myself addressed the Business Summit yesterday. India and European Union are already partners in the high technology ITER Project. We look forward to early approval by the European Commission of India's partnership as a full member in the Galileo Project.

The highlight of our discussions was the endorsement by the Summit of the recommendations contained in the Report of the High Level Trade Group. We have agreed to commence negotiations on a broad based Trade and Investment Agreement between India and the European Union covering over 90% of tariff lines and trade volume. This is indeed a very significant step that would build on the complementarities in the trade flows between the two sides whereby reduction in tariffs over a period of time will be a win-win situation for both.

We have had productive discussions on the issues of energy and environment. I have explained to the EU our view that expansion of international cooperation through forward looking approaches in the field of civilian nuclear energy is important for countries like India which have impeccable non-proliferation credentials. This will enable them to meet their growing energy needs through non-polluting energy alternatives.

India and the European Union are natural partners as we share common values of democracy, pluralism and the rule of law. We believe that our partnership is important to meet the challenges of global interdependence, particularly terrorism, proliferation, energy and environment. We had an extremely useful discussion on instability in our common extended neighbourhoods which is a matter of concern to both India and the European Union. The recent bombings in Mumbai as well as the earlier bombings in London, Madrid and Srinagar remind us that terrorism remains the most serious threat to democratic, open and pluralistic countries. Strengthening international cooperation in this critical area is therefore of vital importance to all free and democratic societies. We discussed United Nations reform issues including expansion of the permanent membership of the Security Council. There was common agreement that a rule based multilateral trading order is in the interest of both India and the European Union. We, therefore, are supportive of continuing efforts to bridge the gaps in positions of various countries to enable resumption of the Doha Round of negotiations.

I am fully satisfied with the Summit outcome. I would like to thank Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen and other dignitaries of the European Union for their contributions.

I thank you.

Helsinki
October 13, 2006

 Back