NEW DELHI: European Council President Antonio Luis Santos da Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will visit India for the 16th India-EU summit on Jan 27 and participate in the Republic Day parade as chief guests a day earlier, said govt in an official announcement.The summit will be the culmination of months of hard work by both sides to ramp up bilateral ties that has seen EU finalising a new strategic agenda for India amid mounting global uncertainties and its own rupturing transatlantic alliance. Both sides are currently scrambling to finalise a free trade agreement (FTA) that tops the list of expected deliverables from the summit, along with a formal EU-India defence and security partnership to facilitate defence industrial cooperation despite friction over India’s ties with Russia.According to EU, trade, security, defence, clean transition and people-to-people contact will top the agenda of the discussions. “Together, we share the capacity and responsibility to protect the rules-based international order,” said Costa. This will also be the first time that the leaders will attend Republic Day parade celebrations as guests of honour signalling, according to the 27-nation bloc, strengthening of bilateral ties between EU and India.
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