Economic ties matter more than ever amid global uncertainty: India-EU joint statement

“In the current geopolitical environment and amidst global disruptions, they reaffirmed the India‑EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC), a high‑level coordination platform to address key trade, technology and economic security issues, as the cornerstone of their technology partnership and aim to further enhance its work,” the joint statement read.

India and the EU stressed their shared commitment to the International Solar Alliance (ISA) at a time when the US left the grouping earlier this month. India has played a central role in ISA since its inception in 2015, as the deployment of solar energy has a larger strategic purpose of outreach to the Global South, particularly to countries in Africa.

“The leaders committed to accelerated cooperation in clean transition and energy resilience in the framework of the EU-India Clean Energy and Climate Partnership. In this context, they welcomed the creation of the India–EU Task Force on Green Hydrogen and the announcement of an India-EU Wind Business Summit to be convened in 2026. Closer engagement of the EU with the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) and the International Solar Alliance (ISA) complements this cooperation,” the joint statement said.

India and the EU said that the two sides will continue to advance together on promoting Digital Public Infrastructure, including interoperable standards and exchange of best practices on regulatory frameworks, collaboration in new technologies (including semiconductors, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, digital public infrastructure and 6G) to build cyber‑secure, trusted digital ecosystems as well as to advance cooperation in clean tech.

Amid shared concerns over supply chain dependencies, the joint statement said that they will broaden discussions on economic security, in particular on the resilience of supply chains and research security, underlining the importance of protecting sensitive technologies. “Both sides agreed to hold the next TTC ministerial meeting in Brussels in 2026 and to deepen business consultation,” the statement read.

The joint statement touched upon the advances in the India‑Middle East‑Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), among other connectivity partnerships. This assumes significance as it is widely seen as India’s and the West’s answer to China’s Belt and Road Initiative. However, the unrest in West Asia has disrupted the progress of IMEC.

“They [the leaders] welcomed advances in the India‑Middle East‑Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), launched during the 2023 G20 New Delhi Summit, and looked forward to the first Ministerial meeting. The two sides will implement trilateral cooperation projects under the India‑EU Administrative Arrangement on Trilateral Cooperation, in areas such as energy, climate resilience, green mobility, and digitalisation,” the statement read.

A EU official had said that the India-EU summit is expected to “inject some momentum” into the preparatory work for the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC).

The IMEC was announced during the G20 Summit held in New Delhi in 2023, “to stimulate economic development through enhanced connectivity and economic integration between Asia, the Arabian Gulf, and Europe.”

Its eastern leg will carry container traffic from India’s western ports to the UAE, from where a high-speed freight railway will carry goods across the Arabian peninsula (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan) until the port of Haifa in Israel. The second leg will see cargo being shipped from Haifa to ports in Greece and Italy, from where Europe’s well-established train networks will take goods to their final destinations across the continent.