EU and India launch Trade and Technology Council – POLITICO

The European Union and India launched a new Trade and Technology Council on Monday.

Three working groups – on digital governance and connectivity, green technologies and trade – will start their work ahead of a ministerial meeting scheduled for spring 2023, the European Commission said in a statement.

“Together, we will work towards a democratic model of technology development that drives innovation and puts people at the center,” said Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager.

Announced in April 2022, the new partnership with India comes as the EU seeks to strengthen its ties with other democracies on the strategic issues of digital and green transitions and reduce its dependence on China .

The annual bilateral policy talks will be chaired on the EU side by Vestager and fellow Commission Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis, and on the Indian side by Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Foreign Minister; Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce and Industry; and Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of Electronics and Information Technology.

India is the EU’s 10th largest trading partner.