The EU and India have agreed to restart long-term negotiations on a comprehensive trade agreement as both sides seek to increase their economic participation and respond to China’s growing power.

Brussels and New Delhi also agreed to hold parallel negotiations to reach an investment protection agreement and an agreement to protect regional specialty foods.

This action Settling down at the virtual Indo-European summit on Saturday is an effort to deepen ties after the Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted global growth. The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, said that the two sides are opening a “new chapter” in their partnership.

The EU and India said in a six-page joint statement: “We agree to resume negotiations on a balanced, ambitious, comprehensive and mutually beneficial trade agreement to meet current challenges.” “We agree, in order to negotiate. To create the necessary positive momentum, a solution must be found to solve the problem of long-term market access.”

The agenda puts forward many initiatives to strengthen connections on topics ranging from air transportation to student exchanges. This detailed plan was carried out at a time when Britain also invested a lot of diplomatic energy in seeking to establish closer ties with New Delhi after Brexit.

The need to respond to emerging powers and Beijing’s influence has injected new impetus into the dialogue between the European Union and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who met through a video conference on Saturday.

China-EU relations have become increasingly tense, which raises questions about the future of the investment partnership that gained political support last year. In March, the European Union and Western partners imposed sanctions on Chinese officials for human rights violations. Beijing has imposed sanctions on European officials and politicians.

Brussels believes that India’s Decided to quit Last year, as New Delhi looked for alternative partners, negotiations on China-backed trade agreements opened a window. However, if the EU and India reach a comprehensive trade agreement after the breakdown of negotiations, they will face an uphill battle.

Although work was carried out between 2007 and 2013, the early efforts of the European Union and India came to a halt due to differences in issues such as professional services and auto parts. Other controversial topics include Scotch whisky to data protection standards.

The European Union and India also hit Connection partnership On Saturday, the aim is to cooperate in the fields of digital, energy and transportation infrastructure. The two sides also hope to strengthen cooperation in the supervision of emerging technologies.

Despite vowing to deepen cooperation, the European Union is still resisting support for patent exemptions from countries including India, which support countries believe will promote the production of Covid-19 vaccines. As the country struggles to cope with the worsening health crisis, Modi is under tremendous pressure at home. According to reports, in the second brutal second wave of attacks, there are 400,000 infections every day.