Article Title: India – EU set year – end deadline for trade deal, security, defence pact
02-03-2025
International Relations Prelims Plus
India – EU Relations
India was amongst the first countries to establish diplomatic relations with the European Economic Community in 1962.
During the 5th India-EU Summit held (2004) in Hague, their relationship was upgraded to a Strategic Partnership.
EU is India's largest trading partner
India is EU's 9th-largest trading partner with India maintaining trade surplus (2023)
Connectivity: Connectivity Partnership (2021) between both focused on enhancing digital, energy, transport and people-to-people connectivity.
Projects like India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) hopes to strengthen connectivity between the EU-India.
European Union
Founded: In 1951 after the Second World War (1939–45) by six countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands).
Current Member States: 27 countries (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden).
The UK joined the EU in 1973 and left (Brexit) in 2020.
Demography: In EU, Germany has the largest population, France is the largest by area and Smallest Country is Malta.
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