Given the realities of the COVID-19 world – and tensions between China and India – the 15th India-EU Summit 2020 is a significant step forward. The summit between two “unions of diversity” underscores the importance of democracy, pluralism, inclusivity, respect for international institutions, multilateralism and transparency, at a time when there are “different types of pressures on the rules-based international order.”
Co-chaired by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, the President of the European Council President, Charles Michel, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the summit emphasised the need to “strengthen global institutions” and “build a human-centric post-COVID-19 world.”
History Of India-EU relations
However, beyond the rhetoric, a peek into the history of India-EU relations shows a different reality.
India is one of the first countries to have established its diplomatic engagement with the European Economic Community; diplomatic relations between India and Europe go back to the 1960s. In 1994, a co-operation agreement signed between India and the European Union – which formed the legal basis – took the bilateral relationship “beyond trade and economic co-operation.”
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