To enhance connectivity in Northeastern Indian States, the Ministry of External Affairs, Asian Confluence, and the European Union delegation to India are jointly organising the India-EU Connectivity Conference in the state of Meghalaya from June 1, 2023, till June 2, 2023.
The conference’s inauguration will be done by Conrad Kongkal Sangma, the Chief Minister of Meghalaya and Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, the Minister of State for External Affairs.
The main objective of this conference is to explore possibilities of boosting connectivity investments in India’s Northeastern States and with its adjacent countries like Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh.
The conference will focus on connectivity through the three pillars: Digital, Energy and Transport, to identify concrete projects for joint implementation. This was recognised as a critical deliverable in the recently concluded Ministerial Meeting of the India -EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC).
Senior officials of the Government of India, the EU Commission, governments of Northeastern states, and the governments of Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. The conference will also include stakeholders from the private sector who are expected to participate and provide views on the subject.
The Northeast region of India is located east of Bangladesh and north of Myanmar and is connected by a narrow strip of land between Bangladesh and Bhutan. The Northeast region faces several challenges, including infrastructural development, lack of connectivity and insurgency issues.
The region is susceptible to various natural disasters, such as frequent floods and landslides, that cause significant damage to the infrastructure and disrupt daily life. However, the government is working to address all these issues and promote economic development in the region.
Meanwhile, the economic ties between India and the European Union are being strengthened based on new trade and tech plans amid the scepticism of China, reported Daily Mirror Online (DMO).
The EU is seeking deeper ties with New Delhi as there are signs of visible strains from the sanctions spat over the accusations of human rights abuses in the Xinjiang Region, which left progress on a 2020 investment agreement frozen.
After the EU-India Trade and Technology Council meeting in Brussels, the EU officials spoke of “very promising beginnings.” The EU wants to de-risk region-China ties as many countries are gradually moving away from China and its dominance in the sector due to vulnerable supply chains and geopolitical pressures.
However, Brussels wishes to keep its ties with China but wants to diversify its supply chains. That is where India comes in. A large number of semiconductor manufacturing involves design and intellectual labour. India has an advantage in this field, as many of the semiconductor design engineers globally are of Indian origin.
Chip-making firms like Intel and NVIDIA have extensive facilities in India that are already flushed with Indian talent working on design problems. Additionally, ties between New Delhi and Beijing are strained due to complicated border disputes.
The Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, Margrethe Vestager, pointed out Indian plans to boost semiconductor production as a perfect example of how the EU-India ties could give muscle to Brussels’ idea of “de-risking”.
She cited quantum computing and technologies developing beyond 5G as areas where India could offer trusted vendors for Europe in the future.
Berlin-based analyst Christian Wagner, who works for the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, said, “We have seen that many companies which are leaving China and also prefer to go to South East Asian nations, So India is in competition with other Asian players.”
“But when we look at the geostrategic landscape,” he said, “India has a certainly larger profile,” said Wagner. He said that India, at the moment, is in a very favourable position, as the US, Russia, EU, and China are wooing India and trying to intensify the relations.
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