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Delegation of the European Parliament visits Mumbai and the
South of India (30 0ct - 5 Nov 2005)

Mumbai, November 08, 2005

The Standing Delegation of the European Parliament for relations with the countries of South Asia came to Hyderabad, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Mumbai. Meetings included the respective States' Chief Ministers and Speakers of State Assemblies as well as the Reserve Bank of India, business people, development NGOs and scientific institutions. The purposes of the visit were to see India not just from an aggregated Delhi perspective giving a vision of India as a whole, but become sensitive to its diversity,
understand interaction between States and the Union, very much as Europe deals with its own Member States/EU relationship and to focus on a number of subjects of specific interest for our Members, who are members of several Committees in the European Parliament.

In Mumbai, the delegation met on Friday 4 November with Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh for an exchange of views and experience. The Chief Minister exposed the challenges that Mumbai is facing, having to manage the expansion of a world-class metropolis industry while having at the same time to cope with Third World preoccupations. He insisted on the importance of local politics at State level in India.

Ms Neena Gill (UK, Labour), Chairperson of the delegation said "Despite the striking differences, there are many issues in urban planning and development that are similar to European experiences from the last two decades, in particular the need to foster alternative "new cities" to avoid over focusing on the same areas. There are too few partnerships between cities and towns from Europe and India, but the lack of political structures at city level in India does not make this easy".

On the economic front, the delegation met with Mr Rahul Bajaj, who exposed the strategy of the Bajaj group and the striking changes of the last few years in the Indian economic framework, and the positive effects of competition and deregulation, as well as busuiness representatives from FICCI and Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry. 

Addressing the issue of WTO negotiations, Mr Enrique Baron Crespo (Spain, Socialist), Chairman of the International Trade Committee and a former Speaker of the Parliament said: "One should not see the 'group of 20' led by India as an opposition to the 25 EU Member States. Unlike the EU, they do not have a unified negotiating position, and in most areas there exists a wide scope not only for compromise but also for alliances vis-avis the positions of other major partners, including the USA".

Mr Jan Mulder (Netherlands, Liberal party), Vice-Chairperson of the delegation and Mr Jim Nicholson (UK, Conservative) explained: "There are misconceptions about the EU. It is not building up a fortress. It is both the biggest exporter and the largest market for imports in the world, before the USA, Japan or China. We are by far more open, even for agricultural products. Speaking of agricultural policy, ours has undergone dramatic changes in the last decade, and the level and nature of support are much less than is often portrayed".

Mrs Gill said: "By opening up its industry, India has proved its competitiveness and its ability to take advantage of globalisation. It should now take the next step of opening its services sector more, in particular banking so as to lower the cost of access to efficient finance and retail distribution, where a modern sector is a powerful drive for the production of quality goods meeting the safety and value requirements of more sophisticated customers".

Background

The European Parliament is the democratic representative body of the European Union. Its Members (MEP) are elected directly by the citizens of the 25 countries of the EU. 

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