Interactive Meeting with Ms. Neena Gill, Member of the European Union Parliament & Chairperson of the South Asia Delegation in the EU Parliament, September 6, 2005

The India-European Union Forum of Parliamentarians (IEUFP) and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) jointly organized an interactive meeting with Neena Gill, Member of the European Union Parliament & Chairperson of the South Asia Delegation in the EU Parliament, on September 6, 2005. The meeting was attended by parliamentarians such as Dinesh Trivedi, the Chairman of IEUFP; Shahid Siddiqui and A.R. Shaheen. Alexander Spachis, Minister - Counsellor for Political Affairs & Coordination from the European Union Delegation of the European Commission to India, and Ramesh Chandran, Executive Director, IEUFP were also present at the meeting.

Mr. Trivedi welcoming Ms. Gill expressed pleasure at the exponential growth of India-EU relations, which from earlier being purely trade and economics-driven now covered all aspects of bilateral relations. Stressing on the strategic component of India-EU relations, he also said that the EU, which had strategic partnerships with only five other countries (USA, Canada, Russia, Japan and China), now saw India as a regional and global leader, engaging increasingly on equal terms with other world powers.

Agreeing with the views expressed by Mr. Trivedi, Ms. Gill further elaborated on the agenda of strengthening India-EU ties, which included issues like accentuating the dialogue on disarmament and non-proliferation, enhancing consultations on UN reforms, intensifying joint efforts to fight terrorism and increasing Parliamentary and civil society interactions between the two sides. She informed the Parliamentarians of the EU's acknowledgement of India's role in addressing crisis situations in its neighbourhood and welcomed India's determination to combat serious issues like HIV/AIDS and drug trafficking. She further added that along with other issues, enhancing trade and investment relations with India remained a major priority with the EU.

Mr. Siddiqui spoke of proposals to set up an Energy Panel to discuss cooperation on energy matters and also proposed the setting up of an Environment Forum, which could include business and civil society representatives, to discuss environmental issues and possibilities for cooperation in this area. He also brought forth the importance of the Galileo satellite positioning and navigation services system project and highlighted India's keen interest in becoming a part of the project.

In response, Ms Gill reaffirmed the fact that both India and the EU were shortly going to sign a crucial framework agreement on India's participation in the Galileo satellite navigation system as was agreed upon at the Hague summit in November 2004. She also informed that India and the 25-nation EU were soon going to launch an action plan to deepen their strategic partnership and jointly combat terrorism.

While discussing energy cooperation, Mr. Spachis informed the Parliamentarians that India and the EU, which are bound by common values like democracy, pluralism and respect for human rights, would soon launch an India-EU initiative on clean development and climate change.

Mr. A.R. Shaheen, in his remarks, emphasized the scourge of international terrorism. With the July 7 terror attacks in London still fresh in memory, he said that the mood among the international community had changed dramatically on the issue of terrorism and expressed hope that with almost every country being a victim of terrorism, a degree of passion and determination should be shown by all towards fighting this menace.

On a concluding note, Mr. Trivedi expressed optimism saying that India-EU partnership covering global issues like disarmament, non-proliferation, and terrorism as well as bilateral issues, including trade and investment and science and technology, would definitely strengthen further in the years to come.