The EU-India People’s Summit

On 8th May 2021, in the midst of the COVID pandemic, India and the European Union meet virtually to hold their 16th Summit, in which they will take steps to negotiate a free trade agreement. The diplomatic summit is closed to civil society and stakeholders whose future the Summit will influence in the short- and long-term. To understand how these two plural and multicultural democracies can positively engage with each other, we host the first ever People’s Summit from 1-8 May 2021.

The People’s Summit is a non-partisan, non-bureaucratic festival of ideas. Through panels, fireside conversations, movie screenings, spoken words and workshops, we take a closer look at the core areas of collaboration as documented in the EU-India Strategic Partnership: A Roadmap to 2025 and the 9th EU-India Human Rights Dialogue.

Read the EU-India People’s Roadmap here. The Roadmap is a People’s Common Agenda to guide political action and strengthen the EU-India Strategic Partnership towards a common future. The People’s Roadmap is endorsed by the Indian diaspora resident in the European Union (EU), academic experts from leading international universities, political actors within the EU and India, policymakers at various decision-making bodies of government, human rights practitioners, and civil society actors from both regions. The diaspora after several rounds of deliberation between May 2021 to August 2021 proposes this Roadmap and associated Action Plan for strengthening EU-India partnership, keeping Human Rights and Human Security as the focal centre of growing business and trade collaborations between EU and India.