Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Donald Tusk, President of the European Commission, and European Commission President, Jean Claude Juncker at the 13th India-EU Summit in Brussels on Wednesday.
The discussions were held in a “positive and cordial atmosphere”, Vikas Swarup, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs said in a press briefing, where no questions were taken from the press.
The discussions initially focussed on international terrorism, with Mr. Modi offering his condolences to the EU on last week’s terror attacks in Brussels.
Mr. Modi has expressed a desire to scale up India’s cooperation with the EU in the area of counter terrorism and said the two sides had a growing partnership since 2004.
From the European side, Mr. Tusk said that India is one of the EU’s most important partners and that the India EU Agenda 2020 would define the partnership for the near future.
The discussion also included the transitions in Afghanistan , with Mr. Modi speaking on India’s intention of “staying the course” there and India’s commitment to a development agenda in Afghanistan.
Other topics discussed at the Summit included trade, climate change, migration, and a broad agreement to increase cooperation between the Indian and European Parliaments. Both sides agreed that a flexible approach would allow the Broadbased Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) to move forward, Mr. Swarup told the press.
The President of the European Investment Bank (EIB), Werner Hoyer, and Martin Schulz , President of the European Parliament, were present at the summit’s working dinner.
A concrete transaction that emerged from the evening was the signing of the first tranche of a Euro 450 million EIB loan towards building a metro rail in Lucknow. Mr. Modi also discussed the possibility of the EIB investing in other infrastructure projects in India and cooperation in the areas of affordable housing and renewable energy.
After the summit the Prime Minister departed for the Brussels Expo, for a ‘Community Event’, where he will meet approximately 5,000 members of the Indian diaspora. Mr. Modi will then head to Washington D.C for the Nuclear Security Summit.
