Overcoming differences: Hindu editorial on India’s renewed push for stronger ties with Europe

Prime Minister Narendra Modi ends his tour of Europe this week Falling down on French President Emmanuel Macron, who was recently re-elected. A simple “tet-a-tet” bill was done during a “working visit”, which turned out to be a comprehensive discussion on bilateral, regional and international issues with a 30-paragraph-long joint statement. Like their other stops in Germany and Denmark nordic summit, as well as a visit to India by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen a week ago, Ukraine remained at the top of the war agenda. Their differences on the issue have been recorded in the joint statement. However, they also discussed mitigating the “knock-on” effects of the war, and Mr Macron invited India to collaborate with the Food and Agriculture Resilience Mission (FARM) initiative for food security in the most vulnerable countries , especially in the case of wheat exports. However, as the scorching heat has damaged India’s crops, the government will have to give some hard thought to its promises of supplying wheat to the rest of the world, at a time when there are growing fears of a drop in wheat prices. . Climate change was another major issue during the pause in Berlin and Copenhagen. France and India, who worked together to drive the success of the Paris Climate Agreement, and co-founded the International Solar Alliance in 2015, are set to take it to the next level – to create integrated supply chains in solar power generation industrial establish partnership. For Europe and Asia markets. There was also a bilateral strategic dialogue on space issues, which would build on their six-decade-long partnership in the field of space – a disputed area now that China, Russia and the US are increasing hostilities along the border.

Given that India and France have had an unusually productive partnership for decades, neither of them has allowed the other relationship to play a role in the bilateral. This has been the cornerstone of their strong defense partnership. In 1998, France emerged as the only western country that neither decided nor imposed sanctions on India for its nuclear tests; In 2008, it was the first country to have a civil nuclear deal with India, after the NSG passed an exemption allowing India to use nuclear fuel and technology. It would be a fitting tribute to the continuation of the relationship if the French bid for six nuclear power plants in Jaitapur, Maharashtra now makes some progress, more than 12 years after the original MoU was signed and the last of the French company, EDF. One year later. The year submitted a proposal to the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited. However, it is disappointing that Mr. Modi’s visit did not give the momentum to the talks on the India-EU FTA (suspended since 2013) as seen in other FTA talks in India. This was the second such visit where Mr Modi visited Germany and France on the same visit – an important gesture that he recognizes the importance of both in India’s new push for stronger ties with Europe.