NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate in the India-EU Summit to be held via video conferencing on July 15. The EU side would be represented by President of the European Council Charles Michel and President of the European Commission Ursula con der Leyen.
The summit, which was scheduled to be held earlier in Brussels in March, was called off due to the coronavirus pandemic. The virtual summit will focus on delivering concrete benefits for the people of India as well as the European Union.
“Issues like security, climate change, environment, trade and investment, connectivity and digital economy will also be discussed during the talks,” MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said.
According to sources, the leaders are also likely to revive talks regarding the Free Trade Agreement between the EU and India. The FTA has been in the pipeline since a long time and talks on the issue had taken a backseat.
Last year, the European Parliament debated a draft resolution against the Citizenship Amendment Act after over 600 members of European Parliament signed a resolution saying the Act was discriminatory towards Muslims.
strength of the European Parliament then was 725 and currently is 705 after the exit of the UK. The voting on the resolution was deferred as the European Parliament said that it was not the official position of the EU and only the European Commission was to take a stand on it.
Meanwhile, sources said that the leaders are expected to discuss plans to strengthen and make multilateralism, with its core in the WTO and the WHO at its core, more effective.
‘US has noted concern on F-1 visa’
The US has noted India concerns regarding F-1 visa issue, the MEA said. “We have urged the US that we need to keep in mind the role that educational exchanges and people-to-people relations have played in the development of our ties,” the MEA said, adding that the matter was raised by the foreign secretary.