The fifth summit meeting between the European Union (EU) and India, held on Monday in The Hague, decided to start forging a strategic partnership between the EU and India.

"We agree ... to jointly elaborate a comprehensive EU-India action plan for a strategic partnership ... for approval at the sixth summit meeting," said a joint statement issued by the summit.

"We have identified proposals to take forward India and EU relations," Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told a press conference after the meeting.

"We want to add strategic depth to our relationship," he added.

The EU is India's largest trading partner, accounting for one fourth of India's imports and exports, and it is the largest source of foreign direct investment for India. In recent years theEU has attached more importance to its ties with India.

In September 2002, the European Commission (EC) issued its India Strategy Paper, which charts out the course for development and economic cooperation between India and the EC for the period 2002 to 2006.

Last June, the EC proposed to upgrade the EU's relationship with India to a strategic partnership. This was warmly welcomed byIndia, which responded through its own strategy paper.

Last month, the EU foreign ministers' meeting agreed to the proposals.

At Monday's summit, the two sides signed a 33-million-euros agreement for so-called India Window project, which is aimed to finance 1,000 Indian students to pursue masters courses in Europe over the next three years.

However, the details of Indian participation in Europe's Galileo satellite navigation project are still under discussion, according to Singh.

The two sides also issued a joint declaration on cultural cooperation.

The first EU-India summit meeting was held in Lisbon of Portugal in June 2000 and since then it was held once a year.

Source: Xinhua