India, EU sign political declaration

As part of their joint efforts to fight terrorism, India and the European Union today decided to work towards blocking access to terrorist financing and to cooperate in the fight against money-laundering.

A two-page political declaration issued after the India-EU summit led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his British counterpart Tony Blair said the two sides will work closely to promote effective multilateralism and strengthen UN Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding through exchanging best practices and engaging in joint training.

The declaration said New Delhi and EU will establish a security dialogue on global and regional security issues, disarmament and non-proliferation.

They also agreed to establish a high-level trade group to

explore ways of increasing bilateral economic flows, including discussions on the possible launch of bilateral negotiations on a comprehensive trade and investment agreement.

'Within this framework, we agree to explore the scope of a possible investment agreement,' it said.

The EU decided to launch an initiative on clean environment and climate change with the aim of promoting cleaner technology and their use.

The two sides also announced a 19-page joint action plan to strengthen the dialogue and consultation mechanism.

Both sides agreed to work together on training for the military and civilian component of peacekeeping missions, including police and other security forces.

They agreed to establish contacts between Indian and EU counter-terrorism coordinators.