India and the European Union (EU), the world's largest democracies share many common values and beliefs in terms of their commitments to commitment to democracy, human rights, independence of the judiciary. The EU-India relations date back to the early 1960s , with India being among the first countries to set up relations with the EEC. The Bilateral agreements were then signed in 1973 and 1981. The Cooperation Agreement (1994) signed between EU and India took their bilateral relationships beyond trade and economic cooperation. Along with the Joint Political Agreement signed in 1993, it opened the path for annual ministerial meetings and a broad political dialogue.
The first India-EU Summit in Lisbon in June 2000 marked a watershed in the evolution of the relationship as nearly five Summit-level interactions took place. The EU-India relations have therefore grown exponentially from that of being purely trade and economic driven to other areas of interaction.

Some of the Agreements signed in the past are as follows:

o Cooperation Agreement (1994)
The Cooperation Agreement between EU and India was signed on Dec 20th , 1993 , in view of the excellent relations and the traditional links of friendship between the two countries.
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o Enhanced EU-India Partnership (1996)
An EU-India enhanced partnership was signed in June 1996 . This was based on the grounds of intensifying the political dialogue, through the creation of a series of working groups, that would form the necessary action, agreement, decision. Another aim was also to increase the two way flows of trade and investment between the two nations substantially.
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o EU-India Joint Initiative for Enhancing Trade & Investment (2000)
The First EU-India summit was held in June 20000. It highlighted the need for making a joint effort to tap the potential in substantially enhancing trade and investment between India and the EU.
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o Science and Technology Agreement(2001)
The EU-India agreement was signed on 23rd November 2001 at the second EU-India summit at New Delhi. Its aim was to facilitate cooperative research and development activities in science and technology fields that were of common interests for both Europe and India . The agreement provided for the participation of persons and legal entities, universities and research institutions in each others research projects .
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o Commission Communication (2004)
The Commission communication signed in June 2004 was another milestone in EU-India relations. The Communication proposed to identify the challenges, opportunities and expectations for international, economic and development policies between EU and India. It also suggested areas for future strategic co-operation .
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o Customs Cooperation Agreement(2004)
The Customs Cooperation Agreement was signed on 28 April 2004, with a view to simplifying customs procedures and developing trade facilitation actions in customs matters in accordance with international standards.
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o Fifth EU- India Summit (Hague) 2004
The fifth summit between EU and India was held at Hague, Netherlands on November 8th, 2004. The Summit aimed to jointly elaborate a comprehensive EU - India action plan for a strategic partnership, and also to encourage the arrangement of regular, institutionalized parliamentary exchanges between the Indo-Euro parliaments, besides promoting cooperation between political parties, trade unions, business associations, universities and civil societies. The Hague summit was a landmark summit as it seeked to upgrade the EU-India relations to the level of a "Strategic Partnership".
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o Sixth EU- India Summit (Delhi) 2005
The Sixth EU-India summit took place at New Delhi on the 7th September 2005. This summit committed itself to strengthened dialogue and engagements between EU-India, as strategic partners. In view of this partnership and the shared responsibility to contribute to international peace, security and prosperity, a comprehensive and forward looking plan was envisaged.
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