MEPs travel to India to discuss security and defence cooperation
A six-member delegation of MEPs will visit India from 17 to 21 December to discuss common security challenges and cooperation in the strategically important Indo-Pacific region.
Nathalie Loiseau (Renew Europe, France), Chair of the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Security and Defence, will lead the delegation. In the capital New Delhi, MEPs will discuss how to deepen the EU’s defence cooperation with democratic allies, like India, in the increasingly important Indo-Pacific region. They will also talk about the state of play of EU-India cooperation on security and defence with high-ranking Indian political and military officials. While there, MEPs will meet with the country’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Speaker of the Lok Sabha (the lower house of India’s parliament) Om Birla, the Secretary of Defence Shri Aramane Giridha, Chief of the Indian Defence Staff, General Anil Chauhan, members of the Defence Committee of the Lok Sabha, and representatives of the defence industry and civil society.
The delegation will also travel to Mumbai for a visit to the Western Naval Command, one of three command–level formations of the Indian Navy and which has recently been involved in joint naval exercises with the EU Naval Force Operation Atlanta (EUNAVFOR), the EU’s operation to contribute to the maritime security in the North Western Indian Ocean.
In addition to Ms Loiseau, the delegation will be comprised of the following members: Arnaud Danjean (EPP, France), Petras Auštrevičius (Renew Europe, Lithuania), Reinhard Bütikofer (The Greens/EFA, Germany), Lars Patrick Berg (ECR, Germany) and Fabio Massimo Castaldo (NI, Italy).