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How it began
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The EuroIndia Centre was founded in 2001 as the first private and not-for-profit
institution entirely dedicated to the revival of the age-old Euro-Indian Partnership
in areas such as Business and Investment, Knowledge (Education, Science & Technology),
Civic management, Tourism and Media.
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The Centre started off with the intention of countering two disturbing trends.
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- New Europe focusing on China when looking east for markets: in the 90s, European
investment in China WAS (not were) 7 times greater than in India.
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- New India focusing on the US when looking west for opportunities: In 2000, India
sold 5 times more IT services to the US than to Europe and 7 times more Indians
chose the US over Europe for higher education.
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Europe was losing the battle for the hearts and minds of the New Indians, while
India was getting out of the focus of reunited Europe.
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In the new millennium, a new awareness has emerged among European and Indian leaders
that this worrying trend equally affects both sides and needs to be reversed. The
European Union and India started holding annual summits in 2000 to exchange their
views in the political, strategic and business areas. In 2005, they entered into
a Strategic Partnership thereby moving their bilateral relations to a higher plane.
The EU and India ARE also in the process of negotiating a Free Trade Agreement.
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The EuroIndia Centre intends to support these decisive political steps and broaden
the Euro-Indian relationship by helping in the mobilization of the European and
Indian civil societies, by formulating suitable strategies and by implementing concrete
initiatives on the ground, such as the Civic Initiative.
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The Centre is run by a Euro-Indian Board. Its founding co-presidents have been Mr.
Raymond Barre, the late former French Prime Minister, and Dr Manmohan Singh, the
Prime Minister of India. The Board entrusts the day to day management to a Euro-Indian
Secretariat headed by Michel Sabatier which runs from La Rochelle and Mumbai. Its
funding comes from membership fees, services, sponsorships and public grants.
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An article by Shazia Wülbers, a member of the Centre, in the book "Rising
India: Europe s Partner?" describes in detail the genesis of The EuroIndia
Centre. The book was edited by Dr Klaus Voll and Doreen Beierlein and was published
in Berlin in 2006 by Weissensee Verlag.
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 To
download the article,
click here
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