India-EU annual summit tomorrow

G. Sudhakar Nair
Marseilles (France), Sept 28 (PTI) India and the European Union (E.U.) are set to unveil an "action plan" on cooperation in peace and security issues at their annual summit Monday during which they are also expected to give a call for sustained action to deal with the volatile situation on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

Global security, climate change, terrorism and the
international financial crisis are set to top the agenda at
the summit to be attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and
French President Nicholas Sarkozy. France currently holds the
E.U.'s rotating Presidency.

The action plan being finalised touches upon cooperation
in peace and security issues, sustainable development, science
and technology and enhancing person-to-person contacts. An
agreement for cooperation on civil aviation with France is
also on the cards.

Besides trade relations -- the traditional core area --
the summit is expected to spend considerable time on global
problems such as financial instability and climate change.

The prospects of E.U. opening atomic trade with India
after the Nuclear Suppliers Group approved a waiver to New
Delhi is also expected to come up at the discussions.

On the financial crisis, the summit is expected to give
out a call to quickly address the impact of current problems
in the international financial sector.

Sarkozy has already called for a summit of world leaders
before the end of the year to "draw the lessons" from the
crisis.

British Premier Gordon Brown also feels that the G-20
grouping that includes India is well suited to address the
financial crisis and it should not just be left to the Group
of Eight industrialised countries to devise strategies.

Sarkozy has already called for the Security Council to be
enlarged and for inclusion of India, China, Mexico, South
Africa and Brazil in the G-8.

The summit is expected to voice deep concern over the
situation on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Iran's
controversial nuclear programme is also likely to figure at
the talks.

The Indian Prime Minister is expected to press for
India's claim for a permanent seat in the U.N. Security
Council.

On the issue of climate change, the leaders are
expected to make a resolve to work towards a long-term global
goal to cut down carbon dioxide emissions.

The European Union, which has strategic partnerships with
only five other countries -- U.S., Canada, Russia, Japan and
China -- now sees India as a regional and global leader,
engaging increasingly on equal terms with other world powers.
The E.U.'s relationship with India was upgraded to a
"strategic partnership."

The E.U. is India's largest trading partner while India
was E.U.'s ninth largest trading partner in 2007. The
E.U.-India trade has been growing steadily reaching 56 billion
Euro in 2007 (1.8 percent of E.U.'s total trade). In the same
year, India was the 11th largest exporter to the E.U. and had
a share of 1.8 percent in the total E.U. imports.

On the other hand, India was the 8th largest importer of
the E.U.'s products and had a share of 2.4 percent in the
E.U.'s global exports.

India's exports to the E.U. in 2007 were 26 billion Euro
and imports were worth 30 billion Euro. Overall India's trade
with the E.U. increased by 20.1 percent in 2007 compared to
the previous year.

The E.U. is one of the largest sources of Foreign Direct
Investment for India. The actual cumulative inflows from E.U.
in 2007 were 11 billion Euro.

After the Marseilles summit, the Prime Minister travels
to Paris for the Indo-French summit on Tuesday. There were no
clear indications as of today whether the two countries will
initial a bilateral nuclear agreement during the summit talks
though the pact has been finalised. PTI GSN