EU-India Summit begins, PM Modi meets European Council leaders

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met the President of the European Council, Donald Franciszek Tusk, and the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, in New Delhi on Friday.

At the invitation of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi,President of the European Council along with President of the European Commission are in New Delhi for a three-day visit (from 5- 7 October) to attend the14th EU-India Summit 2017 on Friday.

Tusk and Juncker are being accompanied by a high-level delegation, including the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, Federica Mogherini to mark the 55th anniversary since the establishment of EU-India diplomatic relations.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also met Tusk and Juncker and the delegations level talks has started to discuss a host of key issues including counter-terrorism and reviving of the Free Trade Agreement talks.

The visiting dignitaries also paid homage to Mahatma Gandhi at his memorial at Rajghat.

The EU is India's largest regional trading partner with bilateral trade in goods standing at USD 88 billion in 2016. The EU is also the largest destination for Indian exports and a key source of the investment and cutting edge technologies. India received around US$ 83billion in FDI flows from Europe during 2000-17 constituting approximately 24 percent of the total FDI inflows into the country during the period.

India and EU are also strategic partners since 2004. The 13th India-EU Summit was held in Brussels on 30th March, 2016. The 14th India-EU Summit aims to deepen the India-EU Strategic Partnership and advance collaboration in priority areas for India's growth and development.