WRITTEN QUESTION P-3390/01

by Gerard Collins (UEN) to the Commission

(6 December 2001)

Subject: Outcome of the Commission visit to India and Bangladesh in November 2001

Will the Commission make a statement on the outcome of its recent visit to India and Bangladesh (20-24 November 2001), and will it outline, in particular, the future strategy that it believes should be pursued by the EU with regard to further developing trade and educational and cultural links?

Answer given by Mr Lamy on behalf of the Commission

(11 January 2002)

The Commission will be pleased to report and to exchange views with the Parliament on Commissioner Lamy's recent visits to both Bangladesh and India (20-24 November 2001) concurrently with President Prodi's visit to India in the context of the EU-India Summit (22-23 November 2001), if the Parliament so wishes.

Commissioner Lamy visited Dhaka on 20 and 21 November 2001 in order to attend a seminar organised by the Government of Bangladesh on the Everything but Arms (EBA) initiative which allows duty-free and quota-free access to the EU market for all products originating in the 49 poorest countries including Bangladesh. The visit coincided with the First Joint Commission Meeting under the EC-Bangladesh Partnership and Co-operation Agreement. It was complemented by a wide range of governmental and industry contacts. The focus of the visit was on the need for a diversification of Bangladesh's exports in order to allow the country to fully use the possibilities offered by EBA and overcome its exclusive dependence on exports of ready-made garments. The EU will provide trade-related technical assistance for this purpose.

The EU-India Summit (23 November) provided a good demonstration of EU's and India's full commitment to fight terrorism, in particular through a Joint Declaration against international terrorism. It allowed both sides to take stock of important progress since the first Summit in Lisbon: signature of an Agreement on Science and Technology, an Information Technology vision statement, the acknowledgement of great progress in bringing together our civil societies (Round Table and Think Tanks network), start of negotiations on a customs agreement and of maritime transports talks and other substantial results. The progress made on the economic front were especially visible at the closure of the Business Summit which submitted a set of recommendations to enhance trade and investment in four sectors (food processing, engineering, telecommunications, information technology) to the Leaders. There was a clear call on both sides to support a rapid expansion of the trade and investment between both markets. Both sides also noted with satisfaction the results of the WTO Ministerial in Doha.

In the margin of the Summit during two days in New Delhi and one day in Hyderabad, Commissioner Lamy had an intense round of contacts with representatives from the Government, Parliament, States Authorities, NGO's, media, and think-tanks to discuss how to take forward the Doha Development Agenda and to ensure that developing countries such as India will benefit. Apart from the possibilities to enhance EU-India co-operation in the WTO, discussions also covered prospects for solving bilateral trade irritants.

President Prodi's visit to Mumbai on the 22 November 2001 was brief, but intense and fruitful. President Prodi had the opportunity to meet with a large spectrum of Mumbai society: businessmen, industry and finance representatives, Port operators, journalists and the Governor of the Central Bank as well as the Governor of Maharashtra.