India, EU strengthen strategic partnership with 3rd Trade and Technology Council

• India and the European Union held the third meeting of their Trade and Technology Council (TTC) in Brussels on July 15.

• Underlining the growing ambition of the EU-India strategic partnership, both sides agreed to focus on strengthening strategic value chains and deepening business engagement.

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.

Highlights of third meeting of TTC:

The meeting reviewed progress under the TTC's three work strands: 

i) Digital connectivity and strategic technologies.

ii) Clean and green technologies.

iii) Trade, investment and resilient value chains.

Both sides agreed to:

i) Start formal negotiations on India’s association to Horizon Europe, with the aim of concluding before the end of this year. Horizon Europe is the EU’s flagship €93.5 billion research and innovation funding programme.

ii) Establish the first EU-India Innovation Hub on electric vehicle charging technologies and testing.

iii) Launch an India-EU Startup Partnership focused on deep tech clean technologies.

iv) Step up cooperation on semiconductors, high-performance computing, quantum technologies, artificial intelligence and 6G.

v) Strengthen work on resilient value chains in agri-food, active pharmaceutical ingredients and clean energy technologies.

• The partners committed to finalising the upgrade of the TTC by the end of the year, as foreseen in the Joint EU-India Comprehensive Strategic Agenda adopted at the 16th EU-India Summit in January 2026.