Jaishankar, Goyal, Chandrasekhar to co-chair first India-EU Trade & Tech Council meet

Brussels: The first ministerial meeting of the India-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) will be held in Brussels on Tuesday, to be co-chaired on the Indian side by Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Communications, Electronics and IT Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar.

The TTC was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, during her visit to India in April last year. It led to the creation of three Working Groups under the TTC: Working Group on Strategic Technologies, Digital Governance and Digital Connectivity; Working Group on Green and Clean Energy Technologies; and Working Group on Trade, Investment and Resilient Value Chains.

“Thank President of @European_Commission @vonderleyen for meeting the Indian ministerial team,” Dr Jaishankar tweeted after arriving in Brussels on Monday evening.

“Appreciate the open discussion on trade, technology and geopolitics. Look forward to the India-EU Trade and Technology Council meeting tomorrow ,” he said.

Thank President of @EU_Commission @vonderleyen for meeting the Indian ministerial team.

Appreciate the open discussion on trade, technology and geopolitics.

Look forward to the India-EU Trade and Technology Council meeting tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/a11otNsFTF

— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) May 15, 2023

He was joined at the meeting by his ministerial colleagues Goyal and Chandrasekhar, who called on Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo ahead of the meeting at the European Commission.

Ahead of the first TTC meeting with the European Union (EU), the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that both sides have maintained continuous engagement within the Working Groups at various levels and meetings of the three Working Groups have also taken place in the lead up to the meeting in Brussels this week.