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EU ambassadors review major happenings in India

PTI - Mumbai

Ahead of the EU-India summit in Delhi this month-end, ambassadors of the European Union nations have reviewed the recent major happenings in India.

“We exchanged our information and evaluations to help form opinion for the EU as and when we will be asked to,” the Italian ambassador Mr Benedetto Amari said, after the the meeting of ambassadors from the EU nations here.

The EU feels that the Indian government was “too slow” in bringing out economic reforms, Mr Amari said and added that the government should accelerate the pace of reforms. “We have never doubted the political will of the Indian government but the reforms should be quickened,” he said adding that many people in Europe with lots of money wanted to invest in India but were waiting for the right ambience for investment.

He said the India-EU summit which would be held from November 29 in Delhi, would focus on furthering economic cooperation in key five key areas - manufacturing, information technology, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and food processing.
Describing the EU as one of the largest trading partners of India, Mr Amari said the annual trade between the two sides stood at US$ 25 billion and the investment flow to India from the EU at US$ 2 billion annually.

With Bulgaria and Romania joining by 2007, the EU would be enlarged to 27 members and the Indian companies should take advantage of the enlarged EU for furthering commercial ties, Mr Amari stated. Allaying fears of backlash against outsourcing of jobs to India, the German representative said the outsourcing helped the companies to optimise and there was going to be some resentment. He said the companies had the right to invest and there were also Indian companies investing in Europe.

The ambassadors also met the Maharashtra chief minister Mr Sushilkumar Shinde who called for enhanced economic ties between India and the EU.