 "Ursula von der Leyen")
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday arrived in India for the G20 Summit scheduled to be held in New Delhi on September 9 and 10.
She was received at the airport by the Minister of State (MoS) in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry Anupriya Singh Patel.
A special dance was performed at the airport upon her arrival.
India and the EU have a common interest in ensuring security, prosperity and sustainable development in a multi-polar world. Both India and the EU agreed to further build on these convergences and foster new synergies for jointly contributing to a safer, greener, cleaner, more digital, resilient and stable world, in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement.
The EU is India's 2nd-largest trading partner (after the US) and India's 2nd-largest export market. India is the EU's 10th largest trading partner, accounting for 2 per cent of EU total trade in goods.Trade in services between the EU and India reached 40 billion Euro in 2021.
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Meanwhile, New Delhi is geared up to host the G20 Leader's Summit in the national capital at the newly inaugurated Bharat Mandapam.
This is the first time that the G20 Summit is taking place under India's presidency. The event will be graced by many global leaders and delegates. Extensive preparations and arrangements have been made for the summit, with the intention of showcasing both India's soft power as well as modern face.
Formed in 1999, the G20 was formed to maintain global financial stability by incorporating middle-income countries.
India assumed the G20 presidency on December 1 last year and about 200 meetings related to G20 were organized in 60 cities across the country. The 18th G20 Summit in New Delhi will be a culmination of all the G20 processes and meetings held throughout the year among ministers, senior officials, and civil societies.
A G20 Leaders' declaration will be adopted at the conclusion of the G20 Summit, stating Leaders' commitment towards the priorities discussed and agreed upon during the respective ministerial and working group meetings.
The next G20 presidency is going to be taken over by Brazil in 2024, followed by South Africa in 2025.
Recently, European Union Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis held a meeting with Union Minister Piyush Goyal and said that both sides would benefit enormously from a comprehensive trade and investment partnership.
Valdis Dombrovskis and the Union Minister for Commerce and Industry held a High-Level Economic Dialogue (HLED) on Trade and Investment in India in the national capital.
He further said that the European Union is India's largest trading partner but there still lies a lot of untapped potential.
"Minister Goyal and I held a positive and thorough discussion on advancing our Free Trade Agreement during our High-Level Economic Dialogue. Both sides would benefit enormously from a comprehensive trade and investment partnership. The EU is India's second-largest trading partner but there is still a lot of untapped potential. India stands much to gain from tapping into the world's biggest, most lucrative single market. There is a clear political willingness on both sides to change gear and make faster progress. We must now use this momentum to bridge major gaps that remain," he said in a statement.
The senior EU leader that the two countries will work on market access-related issues through Trade and Technology Forum (TTC).
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met Valdis Dombrovskis and discussed bilateral and financial issues of mutual interest.
In a meeting that was held in New Delhi, both the leaders exchanged views on ongoing consultations for India-EU Investment Protection Agreement IPA and India-EU Free Trade Agreement FTA, informed the Ministry of Finance.
EU Trade Commissioner also co-chaired the EU-India High-Level Dialogue on Trade and Investment with Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal in Delhi.
The negotiations for an FTA between the EU and India were relaunched last year, marking a significant step in trade relations.
Prior to the meeting with the Union Finance minister, In a press conference, the EU Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis acknowledged that while progress has been made in the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) discussions, there are still substantial challenges to address.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
