May 15, 2023
NEW DELHI – The first ministerial meeting of India-European Union Trade and Technology Council (TTC) will be held in Brussels, Belgium, on Tuesday to review among other things, the progress of negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and address issues of mutual market access, well as cooperation in several areas of mutual interest.
Union Minister for Commerce Piyush Goyal, External Affairs Minister (EAM) and the Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) will be the co-chairs of the meeting on the Indian side. The EU side is co-chaired by Executive Vice Presidents Dombrovskis and Vestager.
The formation of the TTC was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission in New Delhi in April 2022 with the objective of creating a High-level coordination platform to tackle strategic challenges at the nexus of trade, trusted technology and security.
Tomorrow, Goyal will have a bilateral meeting with EVP Dombrovskis followed by Working Group-3 Stakeholder consultations in the presence of business leaders from both EU and India.
In the afternoon, the minister will attend a business event organised by the Federation of Enterprises in Belgium (FEB) and deliver the keynote address. This meeting would involve discussion over the economic footprint of Belgium enterprises in India along with further plans of investments in India. Besides, the three Indian ministers would also call on the Belgian Prime Minister as well as the President of the European Commission.
On Tuesday, Goyal would attend a Stakeholder Event for Working Groups 1 & 2. Group 1 focusses on digital governance and connectivity while Group 2 deals with clean and green energy technologies. This event will also have about eight business leaders from each side in attendance who will present their views/ suggestions. Goyal will deliver a Special Address at this event.
The first ministerial meeting will lay the roadmap for the cooperation under all three working groups and provide direction to achieve desired outcomes before the next ministerial meeting in the coming year.
During the high level meetings with senior leadership of the European Union as well as Belgium various issues of mutual interest including the ongoing negotiations for Free Trade Agreement (FTA), addressing issues of mutual market access, WTO reforms as well as cooperation in several areas of mutual interests would be discussed.