RECALIBRATING INDIA-EU COOPERATION IN THE INDO-PACIFIC REGION

We are witnessing an obvious manifestation of an Indo-Pacific decade as new actors are defining their strategic interests in the region. Moreover, the EU appears to be the latest entrant. Ahead of the 16th India-EU Summit, the EU has finally adopted a strategy on the Indo-Pacific region. While Brussels is keen to foster deeper engagement in the region with “like-minded partners”, it involves a multitude of challenges from a gamut of stakeholders. With the new strategic rollout and the EU entrenching itself as a dynamic pillar in the Indo-Pacific economic, political, and security architecture, one is coerced to ask what this could mean for India. Could it indeed set their relations on the track to realize the full potentials of the strategic partnership? This article while examining the EU’s Indo-Pacific strategy sheds further light on the emerging opportunities for India and the EU to cooperate.

- PRIYA VIJAYKUMAR POOJARY

Contested Conceptualizations of the Indo-Pacific

The Indo-Pacific covers a vast expanse of the region spanning from the East coast of Africa to the Pacific Island states. It comprises of 38 countries, accounts for nearly 60% of the global GDP, and hosts more than 64% of the world’s population1. For India, the IndoPacifi c region serves as an opportunity to strengthen its footprint in the region. On a geographical note, both India and the EU share similar views, which was reflected in the Council’s conclusions on an EU strategy for cooperation in the Indo-Pacific. India’s Indo-Pacific concept was articulated for the first time in the SAGAR doctrine – Security and Growth for all in the Region. The Indian approach to the Indo-Pacific is based on the pillars of maritime security and ecology, disaster risk management, connectivity, supply chains, and scientific and academic cooperation. New Delhi’s priorities towards the Indo-Pacific are, in many ways directed against the rise of China in the region.2 It, therefore, places greater significance towards partnerships to address the existing challenges in the new strategic environment. India has been deemed as a crucial player in the Indo-Pacific region. Along with Washington, Tokyo, and Canberra (QUAD members), the EU has become the latest member acknowledging India as an important stakeholder in the Indo-Pacific.