India, EU lay the ground for deeper security, defence ties

India and the European Union (EU) on Friday agreed to work on a security and defence partnership to jointly counter common threats and, with an eye on China, focused on ways to ensure a free, open and peaceful Indo-Pacific built on international law and respect for sovereignty.

- Rezaul H Laskar

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said they would "explore a security and defence partnership" even as the two sides tackle traditional and non-traditional threats to safeguard trade and sea lanes of communication, according to a joint leaders' statement issued after their talks.

Security and defence cooperation was among the three focus areas for Von der Leyen's visit to India, the others being trade and investment and connectivity initiatives. Von der Leyen travelled to India with 22 of the 27 members of the EU College of Commissioners, underscoring the European bloc's efforts to ramp up ties with India amid uncertainty created by the policies of the Donald Trump administration in the US.

Modi and Von der Leyen expressed satisfaction at growing India-EU cooperation in defence and security, including joint military exercises and collaboration between the Indian Navy and the EU's maritime security entities, and reiterated their commitment to global security, including maritime security, the leaders' statement said. "They emphasised the need to deepen collaboration in counterterrorism and to strengthen international cooperation to combat terrorism, including cross-border terrorism and terrorism financing in a comprehensive and sustained manner," the statement said.