India & EU Work Strategic Recalibration with Tech Pivot

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India, EU Joint Statement Affirms Tech Makeover of Relations

By Raisina Correspondent

New Delhi, February 28: India and the European Union (EU) on Friday affirmed to give strategic heft to relations. India and the EU issued a joint statement to pitch technology as the key pivot in relations.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had established the India-EU TTC in April 2022 as a key bilateral platform to address challenges at the confluence of trade, trusted technology and security.

“The deepening of bilateral relations and the growing strategic convergence between the EU and India respond to the shifting dynamics of the global geopolitical landscape and a common interest in promoting global stability, economic security, and sustainable and inclusive growth,” said the joint statement issued by India and the EU.

India and the EU reaffirmed the importance of deepening their digital cooperation in line with their shared values through the Working Group 1 on Strategic Technologies, Digital Governance, and Digital Connectivity. “Both sides committed to leverage their respective strengths to accelerate a human-centric digital transformation and the development of advanced and trustworthy digital technologies such as AI, semiconductors, High-Performance Computing and 6G, which will benefit both economies and societies,” added the joint statement.

India and the EU agreed to collaborate on working towards interoperability of their respective DPIs that respect human rights and protect personal data, privacy, and intellectual property rights. “Both sides further committed to jointly promote DPIs solutions to third countries and further emphasized the need of mutual recognition of e-signatures to enhance cross-border digital transactions and foster mutual economic growth,” added the joint statement.

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It also stated that “both sides emphasized their commitment to further strengthen the resilience of semiconductor supply chains and promote collaboration in the field of semiconductors. To that end, they agreed to explore joint R&D in the field of chip design, heterogeneous integration, sustainable semiconductor technologies, technology development for advanced processes for process design kit (PDK), among others.”

The joint statement also stated that the two sides “agreed to enhance cooperation on large language models, and to harness the potential of AI for human development and common good, including through joint projects such as developing tools and frameworks for ethical and responsible AI”.

India and the EU recalled the importance of the priority workstreams identified under Working Group 2 on Clean and Green Technologies for achieving net zero emissions by 2070 and 2050 for India and the European Union, respectively. “In this regard, both sides agreed on joint research cooperation through exceptional coordinated calls on recycling of batteries for electric vehicles (EVs), marine plastic litter, and waste-to-hydrogen,” said the joint statement.

The estimated total joint budget will be about EUR 60 million from the Horizon Europe programme and from matching Indian contributions, added the joint statement. “On recycling of batteries for EVs, the focus will be on battery circularity through different kinds of flexible/low cost/easy to recycle batteries. In marine plastic litter, the focus will be on developing technologies for detection, measurement and analysis of aquatic litter and for mitigation of the cumulative impact of pollution on the marine environment,” added the joint statement.

India and the European Union noted productive discussions under Working Group 3 on Trade, Investment and Resilient Value Chains with a view to building a closer economic partnership between India and the European Union. “The work under Working Group 3 complements the ongoing negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement (FTA), an Investment Protection Agreement (IPA) and a Geographical Indications Agreement which are proceeding on separate tracks,” said the joint statement.
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