EU eyes deeper India alliance despite concern over Moscow ties

By Philip Blenkinsop

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission set out plans on Wednesday to deepen cooperation with India in fields such as defence, technology and trade, despite tensions over New Delhi's close ties to Moscow.

The European Union and India are in the final stages of negotiating a free trade agreement, which they aim to conclude by the end of the year.

Negotiations, relaunched in 2022, have gained pace since the re-election of U.S. President Donald Trump. Faced with Trump's tariffs, both sides have accelerated efforts to foster new alliances.

EU SEES INDIA AS ECONOMIC, DIPLOMATIC PARTNER

For Brussels, that means planned trade agreements with Mexico, South American bloc Mercosur, India and Indonesia. India sees promise in the European Union, but also in China and Russia.

India has increased purchases of Russian oil since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In the past month Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has held hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a summit in China, and its troops joined a Russian-led military exercise.

On Friday, U.S. officials called on G7 and EU states to impose tariffs on China and India over Russian oil purchases.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas acknowledged the EU and India had "clear areas of disagreement" that were obstacles to deeper cooperation, but said the bloc did not want to push India into "Russia's corner".

"The question is whether we leave this void to be filled by somebody else or we try to fill it ourselves," she told a press conference.

In its document released on Wednesday setting out its vision, the Commission said the EU would further engage with India on curtailing Russia's military and preventing circumvention of EU sanctions.

Despite tensions, the European Commission views India as a fellow upholder of the rules-based multilateral order, and hopes to benefit from its expected rise to become the world's third largest economy in 2030, the document says.

The EU envisages the two sides negotiating agreements on investment protection and boosting air transport, collaborating on securing supply chains, on green hydrogen, on decarbonisation of heavy industry and on research and innovation.

They could also agree a defence and security partnership, as the EU already has with Japan and South Korea, and cooperate in projects in third countries, particularly in Africa and South Asia.

(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop, additional reporting by Tierney Kugel; Editing by Aidan Lewis)

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