IV India-EU forum

The IV India-EU forum took place in Brussels on 23 and 24 October 2012 and was organised by the European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) and the Indian Council for World Affairs (ICWA) in cooperation with FRIDE. The event was opened by a pre-forum presentation of the EUISS publication The EU-India partnership: time to go strategic? edited by Luis Peral and Vijay Sakhuja. Chaired by newly appointed EUISS Director Antonio Missiroli, and with a keynote address by H.E Pierre Vimont, Executive Secretary-General, European External Action Service, the ensuing debate offered comments and remarks by Rajiv Bhatia, Director General, ICWA, Nalin Surie, Former Secretary (West), Ministry of External Affairs of India and Christian Wagner, Head of Research Division (Asia), German Institute for International and Security Affairs. The 2012 forum – a continuation of the long-standing collaboration between the ICWA and the EUISS – sought to assess and explore ways to advance India-EU relations in the bilateral and multilateral dimensions of the Strategic Partnership in light of recent global developments. Experts drawn from both sub-continents explored various topics during four sessions, discussing security issues which included: counterterrorism, maritime security, peacekeeping, energy and economic governance. In this second-track diplomacy setting, concluding thoughts and recommendations of how to advance the India-EU strategic partnership aim to facilitate greater consensus between high profile policy makers who attend the annual EU-India Summit. The IV India-EU forum ended with a reception, kindly hosted at the Indian Embassy, with welcoming remarks offered by H.E Mr Dinkar Khullar, Ambassador of India to Belgium, Luxembourg and the EU.