New Delhi [India], March 1 : India and the European Union have reiterated their commitment to safe, secure, and sustainable Artificial Intelligence (AI) and to promote this vision globally.
As part of this, the European AI Office and India AI Mission have agreed to deepen cooperation, encouraging an ecosystem of innovation and fostering information exchange. They have also agreed to enhance cooperation on large language models.
"The two sides reiterated their commitment to safe, secure, trustworthy, human-centric, sustainable and responsible Artificial Intelligence (AI) and to promote this vision on the international level. In addition, to ensure continued and impactful cooperation on AI, the European AI Office and India AI Mission agreed to deepen cooperation, encouraging an ecosystem of innovation and fostering information exchange on common open research questions for developing trustworthy AI. They also agreed to enhance cooperation on large language models and to harness the potential of AI for human development and the common good, including through joint projects such as developing tools and frameworks for ethical and responsible AI. These will build on the progress made under R&D collaboration on high-performance computing applications in the areas of natural hazards, climate change, and bioinformatics," the joint statement released by India and EU read.
The Second India-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) meeting took place in the national capital on Friday.
It was co-chaired by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar; Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal; and Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw from the Indian side, and Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy Henna Virkkunen, Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security, Interinstitutional Relations and Transparency Maros Sefcovic and Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation Ekaterina Zaharieva co-chaired on the EU side.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen established the India-EU TTC in April 2022 as a key bilateral platform to address challenges at the confluence of trade, trusted technology and security. India and the European Union, as two large and vibrant democracies with open market economies, shared values and pluralistic societies, are natural partners in a multipolar world.
As part of the TTC, Working Group 1 on Strategic Technologies, Digital Governance, and Digital Connectivity, both India and the European Union reaffirmed the importance of deepening their digital cooperation in line with their shared values through the Working Group 1 on Strategic Technologies, Digital Governance, and Digital Connectivity.
"Both sides committed to leveraging their respective strengths to accelerate a human-centric digital transformation and the development of advanced and trustworthy digital technologies such as AI, semiconductors, High-Performance Computing and 6G, which will benefit both economies and societies. Both sides committed to working jointly to strengthen EU-India research and innovation for this purpose to further enhance competitiveness while increasing their economic security. Both sides are committed to promoting global connectivity in a cyber-secure digital ecosystem," the joint statement read.
Recognizing the importance of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) for the development of open and inclusive digital economies and digital societies, India and the European Union agreed to collaborate on working towards interoperability of their respective DPIs that respect human rights and protect personal data, privacy, and intellectual property rights.
Both sides further committed to jointly promote DPIs solutions to third countries and further emphasized the need for mutual recognition of e-signatures to enhance cross-border digital transactions and foster mutual economic growth", the Press Release added.
India and the EU also emphasized their commitment to further strengthen the resilience of semiconductor supply chains and promote collaboration in the field of semiconductors. They also agreed to promote the strengthening of the EU and Indian semiconductor ecosystems.
"To that end, they agreed to explore joint R&D in the field of chip design, heterogeneous integration, sustainable semiconductor technologies, and technology development for advanced processes for process design kit (PDK), among others. Both sides shall promote the strengthening of the EU and Indian semiconductor ecosystems to enhance technological capabilities and ensure supply chain resilience by developing sustainable, secure and diversified semiconductor production capacities. Furthermore, they committed to developing a dedicated programme that will facilitate talent exchanges and foster semiconductor skills among students and young professionals," the joint statement read.
India and the EU also welcomed the signing of an MOU between the Bharat 6G Alliance and the EU 6G Smart Networks and Services Industry Association for aligning research and development priorities and creating secure and trusted telecommunications and resilient supply chains.
Both sides will also enhance cooperation on IT and telecom standardisation with a particular focus on promoting interoperable global standards. Furthermore, the two sides agreed to work towards bridging the digital skills gap, explore mutual recognition of certifications, and promote legal pathways of skilled professionals and exchange of talent.
Both sides agreed to collaborate on the implementation of the Global Digital Compact, agreed by consensus at the UN General Assembly in September 2024, as a key instrument for delivering on their shared objectives. They noted the need to ensure that the forthcoming World Summit on Information Society +20 maintains global support for and enhances the multi-stakeholder model of Internet governance.