The President of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Poettering, has described the forthcoming visit of President A P J Abdul Kalam to the European Parliament as "very important".
LONDON: The President of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Poettering, has described the forthcoming visit of President A P J Abdul Kalam to the European Parliament as "very important".
"I think it is very important that the President of India comes to the European parliament because we want to have good relations between the European Parliament and India so the President of India is most welcome," Poettering said in Europe Programme-Next in Brussels.
Abdul Kalam will be the first President of India to address the European Parliament's plenary session in Strasbourg on April 25.
Relations between India and the 27-member European Union are set to expand and grow, according to Neena Gill, who was elected the chairperson of the European Parliament's "Delegation for relations with India" on Thursday.
Following the first meeting of the EP committee in Brussels, Gill said "we can now move forward on EU-India relations to improve understanding."
Welcoming the visit of President Kalam to the European Parliament, Gill said "It is a good opportunity to focus on major issues."
Last month, the European Parliament in a significant move decided to split the original delegation for SAARC into three, one for India, one for Afghanistan and one for South Asia.
The 22-member strong European Parliament Delegation on India has two vice chairs, Member of European Parliament Silvia Ciornei from Romania and MEP Pafilis Athanasios from Greece.
The 785-member European Parliament is the only elected institution of the European Union. The members are elected once every five years by the 27-member states of the European Union.
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