India, EU agree to expand collaboration in high-technology, green energy and trade sectors

New Delhi, Feb 28 (PTI) India and the 27-nation European Union (EU) on Friday resolved to significantly shore up cooperation in sectors such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence, 6G, clean energy and digital public infrastructure (DPI).

The two sides deliberated on new opportunities in these sectors at the second ministerial meeting of the India-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC), held on the margins of European Commission Chief Ursula von der Leyen's visit to India.

The TTC was unveiled in 2022 to facilitate exchange of critical technologies relating to an array of domains including artificial intelligence, quantum computing, semiconductors and cybersecurity.

The TTC with India was the European Union's second such technology partnership after the first one with the United States that was firmed up in June 2021.

The Indian team at the meeting comprised External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. Technology Commissioner Henna Virkkunen, Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic and Innovation Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva represented the EU.

Following the meeting, the two sides said they have a common interest in promoting global stability, economic security, and sustainable and inclusive growth in response to the shifting dynamics of the global geopolitical landscape.

"The TTC reflects a shared acknowledgement between the EU and India of the increasingly critical links between trade and technology, the potential of cooperation on these issues to enhance the economies of both partners, and the need to work together on the related security challenges," a joint statement said.

It said both sides note the potential of their partnership to increase resilience, strengthen connectivity and drive forward the development of green and clean technologies.

Both sides are 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 and 6G, it said.

Recognising the importance of DPI for the development of open and inclusive digital economies, India and the EU agreed to collaborate on working towards interoperability of their respective DPIs that protect personal data, privacy, and intellectual property rights.

The two sides resolved to jointly promote DPI solutions to third countries.

In the talks, India and the EU also agreed to 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," according to the joint statement.

India and the EU also reaffirmed their resolve to put in place a safe, secure, trustworthy, human-centric and responsible Artificial Intelligence (AI) eco-system.

The two sides also agreed to 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," according to the statement.

It was agreed to promote the EU-India semiconductor ecosystems to enhance technological capabilities and ensure supply chain resilience.

Furthermore, they committed to developing a dedicated programme that will facilitate talent exchanges and foster semiconductor skills among students and young professionals.

In a post on X, Jaishankar said the meeting took stock of "significant progress made in digital partnership, clean & green energy initiatives and trade, investments & resilient supply chains".

"Confident that today's discussions will translate into new economic, trade and tech linkages," he said.

In the meeting, India and the EU also decided to jointly work towards a multilateral trading system as an anchor in the current challenging geopolitical context.

Jaishankar also attended the India-EU bilateral cluster meeting along with minister of state for external affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh, minister of state for home affairs Nityanand Rai, and EU commissioners Jozef Sikela, Dubravka Suica, Marta Kos, Magnus Brunner. PTI MPB ZMN

Source: PTI