India, EU leaders hold talks on trade, climate change

Nov 6, 2009, 7:08 GMT

   New Delhi - Leaders from India and the European Union began discussions at a summit Friday during which both sides were expected to give a boost to negotiations for a free-trade pact and expand cooperation in areas ranging from counter-terrorism to climate change.

   Issues such as the global financial crisis and energy security also figured prominently at the 10th EU-India Summit between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Swedish counterpart Fredrik Reinfeldt, whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the 27-nation bloc.

   A civil nuclear energy agreement was likely to be signed after the meeting in New Delhi which was attended by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and the Commissioner for External Relations, Benita Ferrero-Waldner.

   India and the EU have been in negotiations to a reach broad trade and investment pact including a free-trade agreement (FTA) for the past two years.

   But differences over intellectual property rights and the EU's insistence on linking trade with climate issues and child labour in India have been holding up progress.

   EU Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton sounded optimistic ahead of the talks.

   'The EU and India are two of the world's major trading partners and we need to get our trade relations right to ensure our economies prosper and protect the vulnerable during these uncertain times,' she said.

   'Our joint commitment to ensure the Doha development round is a success for all and to give a new impetus to our negotiations for a broad-based bilateral trade and investment agreement shows we are on the right track,' she added.

   The EU is India's largest trading partner with annual bilateral trade of 77 billion euros (110 billion dollars).

   With weeks to go before the UN summit on climate change in Copenhagen, global warming was another key area of discussions.

   'Both climate change and energy will figure prominently on this year's summit agenda. Our joint efforts towards a low-carbon economy will be translated into concrete actions in the fields of energy efficiency, renewable energy and clean coal technology,' Ferrero-Waldner said.

   The highlight of the summit will be an agreement in the field of civil nuclear energy that will facilitate joint research into fusion energy.

   The pact will mark India's formal participation in International Thermonuclear Experimental Research (ITER), a 10-billion euro project that aims to harness nuclear fusion, which is expected to be operational in Cadarche, France, by 2016.

   'In the long term, it [the agreement] will develop a specific agenda for fusion research cooperation that goes far beyond ITER,' the European Commission said.

   The leaders will also address questions of the international response to the global financial crisis as well as reform of multilateral financial institutions.

   Other regional and counter-terrorism issues including the fight against radical Islamic groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan and the situation in Sri Lanka are also due to figure in the talks.