New Delhi: European Union Ambassador to India, Ugo Astuto on Friday said that India's G20 presidency will manage to drive the G20 group towards fruitful discussions. “Inevitably this will affect the G20 as a global platform. We trust that the Indian presidency will manage to drive the G20 group towards fruitful discussions, Ugo Astuto said as quoted by the news agency ANI.
Speaking further on India’s G20 presidency, Ugo Astu said expectations from India’s G20 presidency is very high. “We've high expectations of India's G20 presidency. Soon it'll be one year since Russia invaded Ukraine which is a blatant violation of int'l law. EU is trying to isolate Russia & impose sanctions on them so that it affects their ability to continue military operations,” Astuto said.
Ugo Astuto said that the strategic part of the India-Europe relationship has gained considerable momentum and the decision to relaunch negotiations for free trade agreement in 2021 was a significant landmark.
“In the past few years, the strategic part of the India-Europe relationship has been gaining considerable momentum. During a summit in 2021, the decision to relaunch negotiations for free trade agreement was made. It was a significant landmark,” Ugo Astuto, told the news agency ANI.
Speaking on various issues including climate change, Astuto said that India and the EU can cooperate on a number of issues like climate change and he further said India’s G20 presidency is “significant”. “India and European Union can cooperate on a number of issues & address together global challenges like climate change, or digital transactions...I'm sure India's G20 presidency will be significant”, Ugo Astuto said.
“India and European Union share a remarkably similar vision for the Indo-Pacific. We want the region to be stable and prosperous and European Union is ready to contribute to this prosperity,” he further said.
Speaking on the EU’s dependence on Russian fuels, Astuto said that the EU has drastically reduced its dependancy on Russian fuels. The price of oil has stabilised and the stability will also help India. “EU has drastically reduced its dependency on Russian fuels. Price cap was imposed to avoid price spike. Now, the price of oil has stabilized. India will also be in a position to benefit from this stability,” Ugo Astuto told ANI.