{"id":836929,"date":"2025-03-26T15:12:48","date_gmt":"2025-03-26T20:12:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/26\/eu-seeks-stronger-defence-and-security-ties-with-india-von-der-leyen\/"},"modified":"2025-03-26T15:12:48","modified_gmt":"2025-03-26T20:12:48","slug":"eu-seeks-stronger-defence-and-security-ties-with-india-von-der-leyen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/26\/eu-seeks-stronger-defence-and-security-ties-with-india-von-der-leyen\/","title":{"rendered":"EU seeks stronger defence and security ties with India: Von der Leyen"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, in New Delhi, April 25, 2022. \u2014 Reuters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The European Union is exploring a security and defence partnership with India, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday before meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.<\/p>\n

Von der Leyen arrived in India on Thursday for a two-day visit with her college of commissioners seeking to hedge against souring relations with its traditional ally, the United States.<\/p>\n

The delegation aims to deepen its diplomatic and trade ties with the world’s fifth-largest economy after US President Donald Trump announced a slew of tariffs against both friends and foes.<\/p>\n

The EU also hopes to find common ground with India on their shared concerns over China’s growing influence in the Asia-Pacific, building resilient supply chains, and the governance of new technologies including artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n

“I can announce that we are exploring a future Security and Defence Partnership with India in the mould of the partnerships we have with Japan and South Korea,” the EU chief said in a public speech in the Indian capital on Friday.<\/p>\n

“This will help us step up our work to counter common threats, whether on cross-border terrorism, maritime security threats, cyber-attacks or the new phenomenon we see: attacks on our critical infrastructure,” she added.<\/p>\n

The EU is India’s largest trading partner, accounting for 124 billion euros ($130 billion) worth of trade in goods in 2023 \u2014 more than 12 percent of total Indian trade, according to Brussels.<\/p>\n

The Indian market offers many opportunities for sectors ranging from defence to agriculture, cars and clean energy. Yet, protected by high tariffs, it currently accounts for only 2.2% of EU trade in goods.<\/p>\n

The bloc is pushing for a trade deal that lowers entry barriers for its cars, spirits, wines and other products.<\/p>\n

New Delhi meanwhile hopes for higher EU investments in areas such as clean energy, urban infrastructure and water management.<\/p>\n

Modi has pushed for joint local ventures and a more streamlined migration policy for its skilled professionals.<\/p>\n

“A free trade agreement between the EU and India would be the largest deal of this kind anywhere in the world,” Von der Leyen said.<\/p>\n

“It will not be easy,” she added. “But I also know that timing and determination counts… This is why we have agreed with Prime Minister Modi to push to get it done during this year.”<\/p>\n

The two sides are also expected to discuss Russia’s war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Historically close to Russia, its traditional supplier of military hardware, it has resisted Western pressure to distance itself from Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, in New Delhi, April 25, 2022. \u2014 Reuters The European Union is exploring a security and defence partnership with India, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday before meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi. Von<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":836930,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1720,27230],"tags":[10097,10057],"class_list":{"0":"post-836929","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-seeks","8":"category-stronger","9":"tag-seeks","10":"tag-stronger"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=836929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836929\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/836930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=836929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=836929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=836929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}