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More from World<\/p>\nBelgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever said Europe needs to reduce its dependence on foreign trade partners, warning that economic ties can be used as leverage. He also said India had warned European countries about these risks much earlier. <\/p>\n
Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever has said Europe is undergoing a \u201crude awakening\u201d over the risks posed by trade and industrial dependencies, acknowledging that India had warned European nations about the issue much earlier but was not heard.<\/p>\n
Speaking at a CII event, De Wever said India and Europe were facing similar challenges as economic dependencies increasingly become tools of leverage in global trade and geopolitics.<\/p>\n
\u2018Europe is listening now\u2019<\/p>\n
De Wever said countries were increasingly dealing with powerful global blocs whose actions could undermine their economic and strategic interests.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe face the same challenges. We are confronted with the same power blocks that are going in a certain direction, a direction that we maybe do not like and we do not like to be pushed around. We do not like dependencies becoming weaponized against us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He pointed out that India had recognised the risks associated with excessive economic dependence much earlier than Europe.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have lived this history. Your prime minister warned Europe about this long time ago already, but he was ignored. He wasn\u2019t listened to. We are listening now. It\u2019s a bit late maybe in Europe this awakening, but it is happening,\u201d De Wever said.<\/p>\n
Belgium PM takes veiled swipe at China<\/p>\n
Describing Europe\u2019s experience with trade and industrial dependencies as a \u201crude awakening\u201d, De Wever said the continent had allowed foreign overcapacity to enter its markets at prices below production costs, weakening its own industrial base.<\/p>\n
More from World<\/p>\n
\u201cThe country that has profited most from that practice does not lie very far from here. It\u2019s a neighbor you all know. And India saw this earlier than we did and they warned us and we didn\u2019t listen,\u201d he said, in an apparent reference to China.<\/p>\n
\u2018India is number one\u2019 strategic partner<\/p>\n
Asked why India and Europe could build a durable strategic partnership amid growing economic fragmentation, De Wever said Europe needed partners committed to multilateralism and cooperation based on \u201crespect and not force\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf India is not on that list then you have missed something very fundamental. India is on that list. It\u2019s number one,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
De Wever described India as the world\u2019s largest and fastest-growing economy, highlighting its large talent pool and potential for cooperation in areas including trade, investment, technology and supply-chain resilience.<\/p>\n
He said India\u2019s growth trajectory presented opportunities that differed from those offered by more mature economies such as Japan.<\/p>\n
India, Europe need diversified trade<\/p>\n
The Belgian prime minister said India and Europe should work towards diversifying their trade relationships and building partnerships with countries that honour their commitments.<\/p>\n
At the same time, he stressed that openness to global markets should not come at the cost of ignoring strategic dependencies.<\/p>\n
\u201cDefending our national interests is essential to maintaining the trust required for free trade,\u201d De Wever said.<\/p>\n
\u2018India is a major democratic power\u2019<\/p>\n
While acknowledging differences in the histories, institutions and strategic outlooks of India and Europe, De Wever said the two sides shared important areas of convergence.<\/p>\n
\u201cIndia is a major democratic power, a leader in innovation, a voice that cannot be missing when a free and prosperous world is shaped,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever said Europe needs to reduce its dependence on foreign trade partners, warning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36147,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[76,7,400,19498,9542,19497,4509,13958,19424],"class_list":["post-36146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-belgium","tag-bart-de-wever","tag-belgium","tag-china","tag-economic-leverage","tag-global-trade","tag-india-europe-relations","tag-strategic-partnership","tag-supply-chain","tag-trade-dependencies"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@be\/117212931990276450","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}