On Infrastructure, Europe Should Think Bigger Than India
The bloc should be leading a global effort to establish new rules and institutions to finance the massive build-out that Asia and Africa need.
India and Africa will build most of their infrastructure in the next decade.
Photographer: Sanjay Kanojia/Getty Images
For the first time, all 27 heads of the European Union’s member states are to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a virtual summit this weekend. Many initiatives are expected to emerge from the session, including hopefully fresh discussions on a trade deal that was put on the backburner years ago. But perhaps the most important thing to watch for will be a new partnership on infrastructure between Europe and India.
There’s a definite momentum to India-EU relations at the moment. Partly this is because their individual relations with China have chilled noticeably. Just this week, India announced 5G trials that exclude Chinese companies, while European officials cast doubt on whether a new bilateral investment agreement with China would ever be ratified.