All eyes are on the first ministerial meeting of the India-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) which will be held in Brussels today. The meeting will take place amid reports that the EU must take necessary steps to roll back imports of Russian oil from India.

Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Communications, Electronics and IT Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar, representing the Indian side held a meeting with European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.

“Thank President of @EU_Commission @vonderleyen for meeting the Indian ministerial team…Appreciate the open discussion on trade, technology and geopolitics,” Jaishankar said in a tweet.

“A new chapter in the India-EU partnership,” Goyal tweeted.

The Indian ministers also held a meeting with Prime Minister of Belgium, Alexander De Croo to discuss issues relating to renewable energy and technology.

“If diesel or gasoline is entering Europe . . . coming from India and being produced with Russian oil, that is certainly a circumvention of sanctions and member states have to take measures,” Josep Borrell, the EU’s high representative for foreign policy, told the Financial Times. Borrell said that while the G7 price cap — which aims to limit Russian crude oil sales to other countries to $60 a barrel — had helped cut Russia’s oil revenues, it was understandable India wanted to take advantage of cheaper crude.

Meanwhile, the TTC was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Ursula von der Leyen in April last year– a mark of the growing ties between India and the EU.

The TTC has three Working Groups — Working Group on Strategic Technologies, Digital Governance and Digital Connectivity; Working Group on Green and Clean Energy Technologies; and Working Group on Trade, Investment and Resilient Value Chains.

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