First India-EU Trade and Technology Council ministerial meet slated for May 16 in Brussels

New Delhi, May 15 (KNN)The first Ministerial meeting of India- European Union Trade and Technology Council (TTC) is taking place in Brussels, Belgium on 16 May, 2023. 

Union Minister for Commerce & Industry, Textiles, Piyush Goyal is one of the co-chairs along with External Affairs Minister (EAM) and Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). 

The EU side will be co-chaired by Executive Vice Presidents Dombrovskis and Vestager. 

The formation of the TTC was announced by the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi and Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission in New Delhi in April, 2022

Its aim is to create a high-level coordination platform to tackle strategic challenges at the nexus of trade, trusted technology and security.

On Monday, Union Minister Goyal will have a bilateral meeting with EVP Dombrovskis followed by Working Group-3 Stakeholder consultations in the presence of business leaders from both EU and India. 

The WG3 meeting focuses on Trade, Technology and Resilient supply chains and would have 6 business leaders from EU and India. 

In the afternoon, the Minister will attend a business event organised by the Federation of Enterprises in Belgium (FEB) and deliver the keynote address. 

This meeting would involve discussion over the economic footprint of Belgium enterprises in India along with further plans of investments in India. 

Besides, the three Indian Ministers would also call on the Belgian Prime Minister as well as the President of the European Commission.

On 16 May, he would attend a Stakeholder Event for Working Groups 1 & 2. Group 1 focusses on digital governance and connectivity while Group 2 deals with clean and green energy technologies. 

This event will also have about eight business leaders from each side in attendance who will present their views/ suggestions. 

Later in the day, he will attend a bilateral meeting with European Commissioner for Internal Trade, Thierry Breton wherein issues pertaining to the SME sector, start-up ecosystem and e-commerce will be deliberated upon.

This would be followed by the first ministerial meeting of the India-EU TTC which will be attended by the External Affairs Minister, the Minister for Commerce and Industry and the Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology.  (KNN Bureau)