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The EU and India are Natural Partners: Ambassador Kozlowski in Pune, 1-2 December 2017

18.12.2017
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Speaking at an international relations conference on India and the EU: Enhancing Strategic Partnerships Ambassador Tomasz Kozlowski said that a "very good and productive Summit, held in an excellent atmosphere and forward-looking mood, had given a long term strategic perspective to the EU-India partnership". He was addressing an audience of policy makers, experts and students at Symbiosis International University on 2 December 2017.

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The European Union and its Member States have a comprehensive and deep partnership with India going back  55 years, the Ambassador remarked, and there was "no sector of the economy and no aspect of society which has not been enriched by our exchanges".

Against this background, leaders on both sides had agreed at the Summit - hosted by Prime Minister Modi on October 6, with the EU being represented by European Council President Donald Tusk, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini - to deepen cooperation on security, including maritime security and counter terrorism, as well as launch new EU-India partnerships for clean energy and climate action as well as smart and sustainable urbanisation, adding to ongoing and vibrant partnerships on water and resource efficiency. "The EU supports India every step of the way to sustainable modernization and to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals" Ambassador Kozlowski said.

He was pleased to note that two-way trade in goods and services has exceeded 100 billion euros per year; that is 275 Euro worth of trade every day. As trade and investment could be further facilitated, the EU remains committed, he remarked, to an ambitious and comprehensive free trade agreement with India.

Speaking at the University, the Ambassador highlighted India's first position among beneficiary nations of the Erasmus educational mobility scheme under which over 5,300 scholarships had been won by Indian students.

During his visit to Pune Ambassador Kozlowski addressed an EU Day event chaired by Vice Chancellor Prof. Nitin Karmalkar at Pune University on the subject of Foreign Policy and Security Challenges: Challenges and Opportunities.

The Ambassador invited the students, researchers and faculty to take full advantage of the various opportunities available under EU-funded programmes for higher education and research such as Erasmus+, Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions, the Jean Monnet programme and Horizon 2020.

To mark the day, the EU launched an essay competition for Pune University students on the subject EU-India Relations: Converting Common Values to Strategic Cooperation. During his stay in Pune Ambassador Kozlowski also shared views with representatives of many European companies based in the area.   

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