India, European Commission sign MoU on semiconductors

The agreement was signed by Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Thierry Breton, Commissioner for Internal Market, during a meeting attended by EU’s Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis, Vice-President Věra Jourová, Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar, Minister for Electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw, and Minister of Commerce Piyush Goyal.

This development took place as part of the assessment of progress under the EU-India Trade and Technology Council (TTC) and laid the groundwork for future ministerial discussions.

The focus of the agreement revolves around the creation of robust semiconductor supply chains and the promotion of collaborative innovation between India and the EU.

Under this Memorandum, the EU and India intend to:

Share experiences, best practices, and information on our respective semiconductor ecosystems;

Identify areas for collaboration in research, development and innovation among universities, research organisations and businesses;

Promote skills, talent and workforce development for the semiconductors industry and facilitate collaboration via the organisation of workshops, partnerships and the promotion of direct investments;

Ensure a level playing field in the sector, including by sharing information on granted public subsidies.

Both partners will continue meeting regularly and report under the TTC. The next TTC Ministerial Meeting is planned for early 2024 in India.

The first Trade and Technology Council (TTC) Ministerial Meeting was held on May 16, 2023, in Brussels.

This meeting came after the official launch on February 6, 2023, and the joint announcement made by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on April 25, 2022.

The EU-India TTC is the second such bilateral forum for the EU and the first one established with any partner for India. The EU and the US launched a TTC in June 2021. It complements the Digital Partnerships already launched with Asian partners as part of the EU Strategy for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific.