The External Affairs Minister said there are six broad elements that drive world’s economy — production and consumption, connectivity and logistics, technology, demographics, values and comforts and architecture or framework to do business.

“The other factor I mentioned was technology, and surely in a digital age I think we all appreciate the importance of trust and transparency, this is the age of AI, it is the age of Electric Vehicles, it is the age of critical emerging technology of space and of smart cities and smart technologies. We see this reflected in our daily lives, in the economic developments that surround us, and certainly a lot of what we are doing, we believe today that there are opportunities for European companies,” the Minister added.

Jaishankar said, “We have in the last few years concluded a number of agreements on mobility with our European partners and the plus point of these agreements are that one they promote legal movement and two they promote movement of certain skillsets. So, it is something that fits in very neatly with the consumer requirement at the other end as well.”

He also underscored significance of concluding free trade agreements with European Union and EFTA.“It is important because you can already see that our trade levels have been growing steadily, but there is a well-founded realisation that we need more positive framework to accelerate it.”On connectivity Jaishankar said, “IMEC is not the only corridor. A polar route could actually open up a different logistical pathway between India and Europe that would go through the Indo-Pacific.”