EU Calls India Key to Europe’s Economic Strength

By Staff, Agencies

The European Union’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said India is becoming “indispensable” to Europe’s economic resilience.

Kallas made the remarks ahead of a visit to India by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa for a summit on January 27.

The EU and India aim to finalize a trade deal during the visit, with Kallas telling the European Parliament that “India is becoming indispensable to Europe’s economic resilience” and noting that the EU is already one of India’s largest trading partners.

She called the upcoming summit “a pivotal moment in the bilateral relationship,” adding that a new trade deal would “open markets, remove barriers, and strengthen critical supply chains in clean technologies, pharmaceuticals, and semiconductors.”

The diplomat also said the EU and India have agreed to move forward with a new “security and defense partnership in areas like maritime security, cybersecurity, and counterterrorism.”

Kallas added that the EU and India aim to finalize a trade deal, ease movement for workers and students, and launch talks on a security pact. “The EU-India Trade and Technology Council is shaping cooperation on AI, semiconductors, cybersecurity, and digital infrastructure,” she added.

The strategic goal of the India-EU partnership is “to embed trusted partnerships that shape global markets, rather than react to them,” Kallas stated.

Earlier this month, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said a trade deal between India and the EU was essential to unlock the potential of economic ties between the two sides.

India, one of the EU’s top ten trading partners with $140 billion in goods trade in 2024, is seeking to diversify from the US, which imposed a 50% tariff on its exports, while signing three free-trade deals last year and negotiating with a dozen countries and blocs, including the US.