NEW DELHI: The resumption of the ad hoc India-EU human rights dialogue earlier this week has paved the way for more substantial talks on trade.
The dialogue held after eight years has led to India and the EU deciding to resume formal negotiations for a trade and investment agreement on May 8, the day PM Narendra Modi attends the Leader’s Meeting during the EU summit in Porto, Portugal.
The need for holding the dialogue had become more pressing after both sides agreed on the need for its resumption during the virtual summit in July last year. This was after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had staved off a potentially embarrassing vote at the European Parliament on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) by citing assurances.
The dialogue was co-chaired by MEA’s Joint Secretary (Europe-West) Sandeep Chakravorty and the EU Ambassador to India Ugo Astuto. The dialogue was held in New Delhi more or less annually since its inception in 2004. But it began stuttering during the UPA era.
There were eight postponements to the eighth round. Thereafter, the dialogues kept getting postponed.