India-EU trade and technology council to hold first ministerial meet on Tuesday
1 min read . Updated: 15 May 2023, 06:11 PM IST
PremiumCommerce minister Piyush Goyal will co-chair the TTC along with external affairs minister S. Jaishankar and minister of state for electronics and information technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar.
The first ministerial level meeting of the India-EU trade and technology council (TTC) will take place on Tuesday in Brussels.
Commerce minister Piyush Goyal will co-chair the TTC along with external affairs minister S. Jaishankar and minister of state for electronics and information technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar.
Margarethe Vestager, who is noted for taking on the world’s biggest tech giants as the EU’s commissioner for competition, will co-chair the TTC from the European side.
“The formation of the TTC was announced by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi and H.E. Ms. Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission in New Delhi in April, 2022 with the objective of creating a High-level coordination platform to tackle strategic challenges at the nexus of trade, trusted technology and security," reads a press release by PIB.
Goyal will meet with Valdis Dombrovskis, who is the EU’s Executive vice-president for trade on Monday. Following this, the two sides will hold a working group meetings featuring six business leaders from the EU and India.
The three Indian Ministers- are also expected to call on Belgium’s Prime Minister and the president of the European Commission Ursula Von der Leyen.
“On 16th May, Minister Goyal 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. Shri Goyal will deliver a Special Address at this event. This meeting will also see participation of EAM and EVP Vestager," the PIB press release goes on to say.
Goyal is also expected to meet with Thierry Breton, the European Commissioner for Internal Trade, to discuss issues relating to SMEs, start-ups and e-commerce.
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.
“The following three Working Groups under the mechanism will report on roadmaps for future cooperation between the two sides: 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," the press release concludes.