Trade, terrorism top agenda as EU and India meet in Brussels

Dec 10, 2010, 9:07 GMT

Brussels - Trade and terrorism issues were set to dominate the agenda as European Union leaders met India's prime minister on Friday, with the two sides expected to push for a free-trade deal and to agree to step up counter-terrorism cooperation.

The EU sees India as a 'strategic partner' and expects it to play a key role in 21st-century geopolitics. But cooperation has so far been largely limited to questions of aid and development, something both sides now want to expand.

'Our partnership with the EU has evolved from economic and development cooperation to a broader strategic engagement. I will seek to deepen our political and strategic cooperation, including in the area of counter-terrorism and other non-traditional threats to security,' Indian Premier Manmohan Singh said ahead of the talks.

Top of the bill is likely to be a discussion on ongoing free-trade talks. Trade between the world's largest democracy and the world's largest economic zone currently totals a modest 70 billion euros (91 billion dollars).

Officials hope that the creation of a free-trade zone, which is expected to scrap around 90 per cent of all tariffs, would boost that figure by at least half as much again.

The summit is expected to call for a final agreement on the free-trade issue early in 2011, diplomats said.

'We're moving into the end-game,' one EU source said, adding that the bloc hoped to finish negotiations in March or April, before World Trade Organization talks on the stalled Doha trade round in summer.

The summit is also expected to call for closer cooperation in the fight against terrorism and in efforts to make India's economy more climate-friendly.

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