India keen to build closer ties with EU: PM to EMPs

During a meeting with the selected Members of the European Parliament (EMPs), Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said India was very keen to build closer relations with the EU (European Union) in areas of trade, technology and tourism.

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Vikas Swarup quoted Prime Minister Modi as saying, "India is the world's youngest country. The EU has resources and technology and we have the manpower, so it could be a win-win partnership."

The Prime Minister also talked about various investment opportunities in India and various Indian sectors which have been opened up for FDIs such as defence, insurance, railways, food processing, and creation of the India Infrastructure Investment Fund, said Swarup.

The Prime Minister said he recognised these EMPs as playing a very important role; in fact, they were really link between Europe and India.

Swarup said the Prime Minister began his meeting with EMPs by saying that he was delighted to meet his fellow parliamentarians. The Prime Minister mentioned that the European Parliament, the largest Parliament in the world with more than 700 members, was not in session, so he especially appreciated the gesture from those who had chosen to come to meet him, as many of whom were in fact not resident of Belgium and travelled from longer distances, he added.

"Some of these parliamentarians have links with India such as MEP for reunion of islands is a fourth generation Gujarati and that was the reason why they were invited for the interaction with the Prime Minister," he said, adding that some of these people even participated in the Art of living event held in Delhi recently, and had opportunity of meeting the Prime Minister there as well.

Paying homage to the victims of the terrible terrorist attack that recently took place in Brussels, The Prime Minister said it was probably the biggest attack that Belgium had faced since the Second World War.

The Prime Minister also recalled that India had also lost a very young and bright mind in the form of Mr. Raghvendra Ganeshan from Chennai, who died in the Metro blast, he said.

The MEA spokesperson said the MEPs lauded the vision of Prime Minister Modi for making India into a more progressive and a modern nation. They said they were in sync with the Prime Minister's economic vision and various flagship programmes that he had launched, he said.

Some of them raised issues such as retrospective taxation, to which the Prime Minister replied that it was an old issue, and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has already given assurance in Parliament, said Swarup, adding that there were also some discussions about implementation, to which the Prime Minister said his government was in fact known as a government which implements policy decisions.

"The Prime Minister said we not just announce things, we first prepare a roadmap and only after that we announce those things.

Swarup said there was also some discussion on cultural issues, and Prime Minister said that at a time when the world was increasingly being divided, yoga had emerged as a uniting force. "It was a force for wellness and wellbeing; and, in fact, through yoga people of the world had been able to come together," said Prime Minister.

There was some discussions on the U.K. remaining in the EU or not and on the issue of regulation of Internet and domination of Internet by a few global players as well.