The Hindu : National : India-European Union summit to be held on Nov. 8

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Sunday, Oct 17, 2004

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India-European Union summit to be held on Nov. 8

By Amit Baruah

NEW DELHI, OCT. 16. India's fifth summit with the European Union has now been scheduled for November 8, an official statement posted on the website of the E.U.'s Dutch Presidency said.

The summit, which was to have been held originally on October 14 at The Hague, Netherlands, was put off on account of the illness of the Dutch Prime Minister, Jan Peter Balkenende. A "business summit" was to have been held on October 13.

"The postponed E.U.-India Summit will now take place on Monday, November 8, in the Ridderzaal in The Hague. The meeting will be chaired by the President of the European Council, Prime Minister Balkenende. The Indian delegation will be headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The main topic is the strategic partnership between the E.U. and India," the October 15 statement said.

South Block sources confirmed that the summit meeting would now take place on November 8. Some scheduling issues that remained had been sorted out, the sources maintained. As mentioned in the Dutch Presidency statement, a detailed document had been submitted to the Government of India on the contours of a strategic partnership. India, too, had worked out a detailed response.

`Illness problem'

The E.U.-India summit has been faced with "illness problems", with the Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, unable to travel to New Delhi for the fourth summit on November 29, 2003, as he wasn't well.

On October 1, the External Affairs Ministry spokesman said on the rescheduling of the October 14 India-EU summit, "We have been informed that Prime Minister Balkenende of the Netherlands is not keeping good health. For this reason, we have asked for a rescheduling of the visit of our Prime Minister to a subsequent suitable date."

However, the Dutch Presidency in an October 4 statement had this to say on the issue, "The E.U.-India Summit, which was to take place on October 13 and 14 in The Hague, will, on India's request, not be held on those dates. The Indian Government gave pressing domestic circumstances as the reason for calling off the summit."

The change in schedule of the summit means that India can now engage not just at the highest level as regards the Dutch Presidency, but with a new European Commission President and a new External Relations Commissioner.

From November 1, Jose Manuel Barroso from Portugal replaces Mr. Romano Prodi as the Commission President, and Benita Ferrero-Waldner from Austria takes over from the External Relations Commissioner from Chris Patten.

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