India will seek to deepen its political and strategic cooperation with the 27-nation European Union (EU), including in the area of counter-terrorism and other non-traditional threats to security, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said before he left on a two-nation, four-day tour of Belgium and Germany.
Prime Minister Singh will attend the 11th India-EU summit at the Belgian capital of Brussels on Friday. It will be the first India-EU Summit since the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty of the European Union which recast its structures for strengthening the EU’s external relations.
He will also attend the India-Belgium summit at the invitation of Prime Minister Yves Leterme of Belgium. On Saturday, the Prime Minister will pay a working visit to Germany at the invitation of its Chancellor, Ms Angela Merkel.
“My discussions in both Belgium and Germany will also include a review of the major regional and global issues we face today. These include the situation in Afghanistan and climate change, as well as the state of the global economy and the role of the G-20 in the recovery process,” Dr Singh said in his statement prior to his departure.