By IANS
New Delhi : India and the 27-nation European Union will hold their eighth summit here Friday that will push forward a proposed free trade deal and discuss a slew of issues, including climate change and enhancing energy cooperation.
Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates, current president of the Council of the European Union, and EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso will represent the EU at talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the daylong summit.
The two sides will hold wide-ranging discussions on a broad-based trade and investment pact that is expected to provide a firmer economic foundation to burgeoning strategic ties between the two sides and review the joint action plan to implement decisions taken at earlier summits.
An agreement on renewal of science and technology cooperation and a memorandum of agreement on concretising the next round of India-EU cooperation for 2007-2010 will be signed during the summit.
The two sides will also explore setting up a business and technology centre in Delhi and providing funds to projects in areas through the European Investment Bank in diverse areas, including infrastructure and airports.
Portugal currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU.
Enhanced cooperation in the area of clean energy development and climate change will be high on the agenda.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to bring up the issue of seeking civil nuclear cooperation with the European countries, most of which are members of the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group.
But the EU has taken a considered position that it would be up to individual sovereign nation states to take a stand on the India-US civil nuclear deal. There is unlikely to be an advance over this position, an EU source told IANS.
The 27-nation grouping is watching closely India’s negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency and will make up its mind on this issue only after the safeguards pact is concluded.
Manmohan Singh is, however, likely to seek the support of Portugal in the NSG during bilateral discussions with Portuguese Prime Minister Socrates.
Leaders of India and the EU will also discuss a range of global issues, including the situation in Pakistan in the aftermath of emergency and ways to push democracy in Myanmar.
The EU accounts for a fifth of India’s total trade, and is also one of its main sources of foreign investment. Earlier this week, Daniele Smadja, EU ambassador in India, had called for fructifying the full potential of India-EU economic relations and underlined the need for accelerating negotiations on a free trade deal.
Bilateral trade between Europe and India is estimated to be at 46 billion euros ($68 billion) and services trade at 10 billion euros.
However, the free trade negotiations are shadowed by differences over some issues like remaining duties on wines and spirits, food safety and industrial standards.
These issues are being discussed extensively at the India-EU business summit Friday. EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson is the key pointsman for the trade talks that will also try to iron out differences over the Doha round of free trade talks.
Ahead of the Bali conference on climate change next month that is expected to replace the Kyoto Protocol, the two sides will also hold discussions to evolve common positions on this increasingly important global issue. India has not agreed to emissions targets, saying it needs more energy to ameliorate the condition of millions of poor in the country.
Javier Solana, EU High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, will not be coming for the summit.
The first India-EU summit was launched during the Portuguese presidency of the EU in 2000, followed by the forging of strategic partnership between the two sides in 2004.