India, Ireland to set up joint economic commission, unveil action plan to bolster ties
The announcement was made following a meeting in Dublin between Ireland’s deputy prime minister Simon Harris, and India’s external affairs minister S Jaishankar
NEW DELHI: India and Ireland on Friday unveiled several measures to boost cooperation in trade, investment and technology, including a new action plan to bolster ties and the setting up of a joint economic commission for consultations on trade issues.
The measures were announced following a meeting in Dublin between Simon Harris, Ireland’s Tánaiste or deputy prime minister and foreign minister, and external affairs minister S Jaishankar. This was the first high-level visit from the Indian side since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s trip to Ireland in 2015.
“We discussed our bilateral cooperation, including a new Action Plan to reinvigorate ties. Agreed to set up a Joint Economic Commission to increase our trade, investment and technology linkages,” Jaishankar said on X.
The two sides also exchanged views on recent developments in their respective regions and globally, including the Ukraine conflict, West Asia, Afghanistan and the Indo-Pacific. “Also spoke about India-EU cooperation and multilateralism,” Jaishankar said.
The decision by the two sides to explore ways to ramp up trade and investment cooperation comes against the backdrop of two-way trade in goods and services increasing to €16 billion in 2023. Harris said the Irish government approved the action plan for enhancing engagement with India earlier this week.
“This is a clear demonstration of Ireland’s commitment to deepening our engagement with India as a key bilateral partner. The agreement sets out a broad range of measures under four strategic goals which will be pursued and implemented by relevant government departments and agencies,” Harris said.
The first outcome of the action plan was the signing of a memorandum of understanding on a diplomatic exchange programme by Akhilesh Mishra, India’s envoy to Ireland, and Kevin Kelly, the Irish ambassador to India.
The joint economic commission is a bilateral forum for consultations on key trade and investment issues and developments at the WTO, and for increasing awareness of the economic priorities of both countries. Ireland and India are looking to conclude a formal agreement on the proposed commission later this year.
Harris said he discussed a range of bilateral issues with Jaishankar, including cultural and people-to-people links, and global matters such as “Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, the situations in the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific region and common challenges such as climate change”.
“We agreed that by working more closely together at the multilateral level, we can better address bilateral and global issues in a mutually beneficial manner,” Harris said.
Jaishankar, the first Indian foreign minister to visit Ireland, separately met Irish President Michael D Higgins, former prime minister Leo Varadkar and ministers James Lawless and Robert Troy on Thursday evening. He also visited Trinity College and the General Post Office Museum, which tells the story of the 1916 Easter Rising.
While speaking on the theme of “India’s view of the world” at University College Dublin, Jaishankar highlighted the complex historic links between India and Ireland, including the role of Irish nationals in administration, medicine, railways and education during India’s colonial past.
Ireland’s struggle for freedom was a powerful inspiration for India’s national movement and both countries believe in a world order that respects international law and values international regimes and cooperation, he said. He noted that Ireland is home to almost 100,000 Indian nationals, including 13,000 students, while 44,000 Irish tourists had visited India last year.
Trade and investment ties have grown substantially and leading Indian IT and pharmaceutical companies have established a strong presence in Ireland, with trade in services exceeding trade in goods by a fairly large margin, Jaishankar said.
“We find today increasing convergences with Europe. As India becomes a bigger economy, there is a lot that we see going on with Europe. Ireland, as an integral part of that, would obviously reap the benefits,” he said.
Jaishankar also emphasised the need for joint efforts to counter terrorism, pointing to the memorial at Ahakista village in County Cork to the 329 people killed in the 1985 bombing of Air India flight 182. The aircraft was blown up off the coast of Ireland, while flying from Montreal to London, by a bomb planted by Khalistani extremists.
