Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting with the President of the European Council and the President of the European Commission.
Rome: Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a joint meeting with European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Rome on Friday to discuss ways to strengthen economic and people-to-people ties with the aim to improve the planet. This is Prime Minister Modi’s first official meeting after his arrival in Rome to attend the G20 summit. At the summit, he will discuss with other leaders how to get the global economy and healthcare sector back on track, sustainable development and climate change affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
‘Discussed ways to strengthen mutual relationships’
The Prime Minister’s Office tweeted: ‘Official events in Rome begin with fruitful talks with the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the President of the European Commission, von der Leyen. The leaders discussed ways to strengthen economic and people-to-people ties with the goal of improving the planet. The Fifteenth India-EU Summit was held virtually in July 2020 and was attended by Prime Minister Modi, President of the European Council Michel and President of the European Commission Leyen. In 2020, India was the 10th largest trading partner of the European Union. Bilateral merchandise trade between India and the EU stood at € 65.3 billion in 2020.
The European Union is a political and economic grouping
Bilateral relations between India and the EU date back to the early 1960s. India was one of the first countries to establish diplomatic relations with the European Economic Community in 1962. The first India-EU summit was held in Lisbon on 28 June 2000 and was a historic event in the development of the relationship between the two. Relations between the two reached a ‘strategic partnership’ during the fifth India-EU summit in The Hague in 2004. The European Union is a political and economic grouping whose 27 member countries are mainly European.
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