NEW DELHI: India-UK and India-EU partnerships are two very significant elements in the global effort to make the world a better place to live in, said Union Minister Piyush Goyal during his address at the CII India Europe Business & Sustainability Conclave last week.
The conclave is held in cooperation with the Ministry of External Affairs and is one of the biggest gatherings of top ministers, decision-makers, and business executives from India and Europe.
It concentrated on the strategic collaboration between India and Europe in the shifting geopolitical landscape, strengthening bilateral ties, and discussions of new economic opportunities. In addition to discussions on a bilateral and regional level, the conclave offered opportunities in a variety of fields, including healthcare, information technology and engineering services (IT&ITES), maritime and logistics, defence, smart manufacturing, agriculture and food processing, education, power and energy, and infrastructure.
The conclave was joined by 250 delegates from 37 countries and 200 from India, including a large number of participants online.
Addressing day two of the conclave, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said that India was amongst the top five performers when it came to benchmarking its work on meeting the nationally determined contributions of sustainability. He added that there was no G20 country in the top 10 and that was a matter of concern.
Sanjiv Bajaj, CII President, noted five areas for India-Europe collaboration as India’s integration into European global value chains; digital cooperation; global sustainability; sustainable infrastructure and urban development; green product development.
Josep Borrell Fontelles, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and VicePresident of European Commission, said as the fifth- largest economy, India was an indispensable and strategic partner for EU. He emphasised that India was critical to Europe in many areas.