Union External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar called on President of the European Council Antonio Costa on Wednesday, 15 July 2026, alongside a high-level Indian delegation that included Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Jitin Prasada, and Principal Scientific Adviser Prof. Ajay K. Sood. Dr. Jaishankar conveyed the warm wishes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and joined his colleagues in acknowledging significant forward movement in the India-EU partnership since a landmark summit held earlier this year.

Context

Posting on X, Dr. Jaishankar wrote that the delegation was 'pleased to call on President of the European Council' and that they 'recognised the significant progress in our partnership since the landmark India-EU summit earlier this year.' He added that he valued Costa's 'guidance and warm sentiments for advancing our trade and technology cooperation.' The meeting brought together ministers overseeing trade, technology and science — signalling the breadth of the bilateral agenda on the table.

Antonio Costa, a Portuguese politician who assumed the Presidency of the European Council in 2024, has been a key interlocutor for non-EU partners seeking deeper institutional ties with the bloc. His role positions him as a convener of the EU's 27 member states on strategic external partnerships.

Policy Backdrop

The meeting sits within a long arc of India-EU institutional engagement. The two sides relaunched negotiations on a broad-based Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) following the India-EU Summit of July 2020, after nearly a decade of stalled talks. A further milestone came in May 2022, when the India-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) was established during European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's visit to New Delhi — modelled on a similar EU-US mechanism and designed to coordinate on trade, digital technologies and clean energy.

The composition of the Indian delegation — spanning commerce, technology and science — mirrors the three working groups of the TTC: trade, trusted technology and green and clean energy. The presence of Prof. Ajay K. Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, underscores the growing emphasis on research and innovation linkages alongside commercial negotiations.

Stakeholders and Impact

India has pursued deeper institutional engagement with the EU to diversify economic partnerships and secure technology supply chains, particularly in semiconductors and digital infrastructure. The EU, for its part, has framed India as a partner for its 'de-risking' agenda — reducing strategic dependence on single suppliers in critical sectors. Indian technology exporters, trade negotiators and research institutions are among the primary stakeholders watching these talks closely.

The involvement of Piyush Goyal, who leads India's trade policy, alongside the technology and science portfolios, suggests the delegation was engaged across the full spectrum of TTC working groups. Any momentum generated in such high-level meetings typically feeds back into technical negotiating rounds that follow.

What's Next

Attention will now turn to the next ministerial meeting of the India-EU Trade and Technology Council and whether the diplomatic energy generated by the summit and subsequent high-level calls translates into fresh movement on the long-pending Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement. The consistent senior-level engagement — from the Prime Minister's level downward — suggests both sides are invested in sustaining the current momentum. A concrete deliverable on market access or technology transfer frameworks would be the clearest indicator that the partnership is moving from dialogue to outcomes.