New Delhi, June 23 (IANS) High Representative of the European Union Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton Wednesday met Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) Vayalar Ravi to discuss India-Europe ‘future migratory movements’.
‘We had a good discussion on our mutual interest in migration from India to Europe and from Europe to India… We exchanged many ideas and our dialogue went on very well,’ Ravi told reporters here after the meeting.
A delegation of five European Union (EU) members along with Ashton met the minister and his senior staff to discuss issues regarding migration.
Ashton said: ‘There are many opportunities for Europeans in India especially in a city like Bangalore. There are around 30 different nationalities studying and working in Bangalore… We discussed joint action plans on migration plans and to build a strong relationship enhancing further opportunities for the future.’
MOIA Joint Secretary G. Gurucharan said that the minister had earlier written to the EU commissioner who deals with immigration suggesting that an EU delegation should visit India to negotiate the mobility partnership which got a positive response.
‘Baroness Ashton told the minister that Europe is quite keen to build a partnership on migration related matters with India. They proposed to resume the high level dialogue on migration which was started in 2006,’ he said.
‘The minister responded by welcoming this and saying that he looks forward to actively engaging in dialogues. He also said that we (India and the EU) must identify specific milestones that can be achieved in our migration context,’ Gurucharan added.
