The European Union and India would like to deepen cooperation in trade and technology

The European Union and India would like to deepen cooperation in trade and technology

Tuesday 05/16/2023 | 23:31

EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager and EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis on Tuesday agreed at the first ministerial meeting of the new Trade and Technology Council with India to increase their cooperation in the future. The meeting in Brussels was attended by Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanam Jaishankar and the Ministers of Commerce and Information Technology.

Ahead of the meeting, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell accused India of helping Russia circumvent Western sanctions. Borrell called on European Union countries to take measures against importing Indian fuel made from Russian crude oil. “If diesel or petrol arrives in Europe from India and is made from Russian oil, it is certainly circumventing sanctions and member states must take action,” Borrell told the Financial Times.

Indian Foreign Minister Jaishankar did not address Borrell’s criticism at a news conference in Brussels. On Tuesday night, Jaishankar said he understood the sanctions clause to mean that Russian crude oil was no longer a Russian product after it was distilled in a third country. The European Union is India’s third largest trading partner with a trade volume of about $95 billion (€87 billion). The two sides resumed talks on a free trade agreement last year.