• The second meeting of the India-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) took place in New Delhi on February 28.

• The Indian team at the meeting comprised Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw. 

• The EU side was represented by Technology Commissioner Henna Virkkunen, Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic and Innovation Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva.

India-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC)

• The India-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen during the latter’s visit to India in April 2022.

It led to the creation of three Working Groups: 

i) Working Group on Strategic Technologies, Digital Governance and Digital Connectivity

ii) Working Group on Green and Clean Energy Technologies

iii) Working Group on Trade, Investment and Resilient Value Chains.

• The India-EU Trade and Technology Council is the second such bilateral forum for the EU and the first one established with any partner for India. The EU and the US launched a TTC in June 2021. 

• The TTC is a key forum to deepen the strategic partnership on trade and technology between the two partners. 

• The TTC will help increase India-EU bilateral trade, which is at historical highs.

Scope of TTC

• Rapid changes in the world’s geopolitical environment highlight the need for an even deeper strategic partnership between India and the European Union. As vibrant democracies, open market economies and pluralistic societies India and the European Union share fundamental values and have a common interest in ensuring security, prosperity and sustainable development in a multi-polar world. Both partners also face a challenging and volatile global political, economic and security landscape.

• The TTC was set up as a key coordination platform to address key trade, trusted technology and security challenges, to promote a human-centric approach to the digital transformation, and to deepen their bilateral relationship in these fields. 

• The TTC will allow both partners to tackle challenges at the nexus of trade, trusted technology and security, and thus deepen cooperation in these fields.

• The choice of this format reflects the strategic nature both sides attach to their bilateral relationship, the desire to guide their cooperation towards tangible results and the geo-political significance of their trade and technology links in the context of a more contested and rapidly evolving international environment. 

• They reaffirm that international rules-based approaches to trade, technology, and innovation that are founded on solid democratic principles and values can improve the lives of their citizens and generate greater prosperity for people around the world.

• Cooperation within the TTC will also feed into coordination in multilateral bodies and wider efforts with like-minded partners, with the aim of promoting a democratic model of digital governance.

• It will provide the political steer and the necessary structure to operationalise political decisions, coordinate technical work, and report to the political level to ensure implementation and follow-up in areas that are important for the sustainable progress of European and Indian economies.

• Ministerial meetings of the TTC take place at least once a year, with the venue alternating between the EU and India.

Key points of second meeting of the TTC:

• 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. 

• Recognising the importance of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) for the development of open and inclusive digital economies and digital societies, India and the European Union 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.

• India and the EU recalled the importance of the priority work streams 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. Achieving these targets will require significant investment in new clean technologies and standards.

• 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.

• Both sides noted productive discussions under Working Group 3 on Trade, Investment and Resilient Value Chains with a view to building a closer economic partnership.

• In agriculture, India and the EU intend to collaborate on contingency planning for food security and welcomed common efforts on shared research and innovations regarding climate-resilient practices and crop diversification.

• India and the EU strengthened their commitment towards the multilateral trading system as an anchor in the current challenging geopolitical context.

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