The Hindu : Opinion / News Analysis : A strategic key to tackle global challenges

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Friday, Feb 16, 2007
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Opinion - News Analysis

A strategic key to tackle global challenges

Benita Ferrero-Waldner

India and the EU should increase cooperation and act together on the world stage.

I WILL be travelling to New Delhi next week with a clear message: the European Union and India are natural friends and unique strategic partners.

India was one of the first countries to establish diplomatic relations with the European Community 45 years ago and EU-India relations have developed faster than anyone could have expected. Both sides saw the potential of forging a strong partnership and to jointly take on greater responsibility in a new global order.

The EU-India Strategic Partnership sealed in 2004 reflects our strong commitment to shared values and mutual interests. The adoption of the Joint Action Plan in 2005 put our partnership into a broad set of concrete cooperation initiatives and provided the framework for a qualitative transformation to engage as equal partners. The EU-India Summit in October last year hardly left an aspect of political or economic cooperation untouched: from India's participation in the international fusion reactor (ITER) project, to biotechnology, the negotiation of agreements on transport as well as the launching of a new cooperation on employment and social affairs initiative. The decision to negotiate a broad-based trade and investment agreement will provide yet another decisive step in our joint commitment to increase bilateral trade and investment flows to their full potential.

And we should increase our cooperation and act together on the world stage.

This year the European integration process will celebrate its 50th anniversary. This process has given life to a unique, innovative and successful experiment in international governance. Of course, the creation of the European Union cannot solve all the many challenges we face in the context of growing globalisation. Nevertheless, the decision to pool important parts of national sovereignty and create an ever-closer union of nation-states has shown us the benefits of collective action in response to global challenges.

This year, India celebrates the 60th anniversary of its national independence. We strongly share the belief of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that we can no longer secure national interests without achieving our shared global interests given the increasing interdependence of nations in a globalising world.

Global trade

This is certainly true with global trade where the EU and India have a shared responsibility and must continue to show leadership to secure the success of the Doha Development Agenda as well as to ensure that the World Trade Organisation remains the chief mechanism for shaping equitable globalisation. India is in a unique position to make the case for open trade in goods and services a powerful development tool.

Active cooperation takes place in the fight against terrorism where tragically, EU member states and India have repeatedly been the victims of terrorist attacks.

As the largest open societies in the world, the EU and India need to ensure their shared commitment to participatory democracy, human rights, good governance, and the rule of law, at home and into other emerging democracies. Together we must address the international community with the challenges posed by situations such as Afghanistan, Sri Lanka or Darfur.

India is the world's third biggest participant in United Nations peace-keeping forces. Together with the EU, India has played a key role in ensuring the creation of the U.N. Peace-Building Commission and the U.N. Human Rights Council. It is important that our shared commitment to effective multilateralism leads to strengthened consultation within the U.N. system, including enhancing coherence and effectiveness of U.N. action in development and humanitarian affairs. India and the EU will also play a key role to ensure progress towards the Millennium Development Goals.

The need to turn these principles into concrete action becomes highly apparent in the field of energy security and climate change. The EU and India must act together to fight climate change. The report by renowned expert Nicholas Stern estimates that we might face severe economic losses due to increases in temperature. If we don't manage these climate issues, they will greatly affect our resource management, access to fresh water, food supply, migration, energy security and regional security. This is a cornerstone of our strategic cooperation and underlines the importance we both attach to the issue.

Developed countries have caused much of the problems we face today, but projections show that by 2020, developing countries' emissions will have overtaken those of the developed world. This means that we must act together now to tackle this global problem. The recent European Commission proposal on future climate change action calls for an increased cooperation with major actors such as India. The EU stands ready to support India and concerned partners to reduce their emissions in an economically viable way. The EU-India Initiative on Clean Development and Climate Change agreed under the Joint Action Plan in 2005 is the perfect forum in which to do this.

Global energy security is crucial to ensuring economic growth and livelihood of people, maintaining peace and stability and promoting development worldwide. India and the EU share a common will for ensuring reliable, economical, and sustainable energy supply. They should further strengthen dialogue and cooperation on energy in an effort to create a stable, secure, efficient, and clean energy environment to support sustainable economic and social development.

Democracy is the mechanism to benefit from globalisation. The free flow of ideas, people, capital, goods, and accountable public decision-making are all crucial factors in the societies of India and the EU.

I am confident that valuable solutions to our challenges will emerge from our two great democracies while working hand in hand.

(The writer is European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy.)

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