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Strengthening an already well-established relationship, promoting a fruitful dialogue that brings together two great cultures, encouraging international interactions and relations.

The newly established EU-India Association, an apolitical non-profit organization, has immediately set some very ambitious but realistic goals. Their achievement will be facilitated by the long experience of its founders. They have been supporting the cooperation between the two oldest democracies in the world for years, with the purpose of promoting cultural, institutional and economic exchanges, therefore strengthening the connection between European Union and India.

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Sandro Gozi, President of EU-India Association, has an impressive record in the field of international politics and diplomacy: Member of the Italian Parliament for 12 years, former President of the Schengen Parliamentary Committee and Undersecretary for European Affairs. He is currently a Member of the European Parliament. Thanks to his extensive experience, the Association can build bridges between the whole European Union – and not only Italy – and India.

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Gozi is supported by vice-president Roney Simon: strategic advisor and Cavaliere dell’Ordine della Stella of Italy, he was subsequently nominated representative in Italy of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), the confederation of Indian industries.

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Matteo Ribaldi is the Secretary General of the Association. After various experiences in the public sector and in the Technical Secretariat of the Italian Department for European Policies, he is now a senior consultant in a public affairs company. 

That is why the EU-India Association was created with great ambitions: with its three high-calibre founding members, it aims at facilitating mutual exchange of knowledge, at achieving a deeper understanding of Indian uniqueness, and at promoting a European opening towards it. The Association aspires to represent a platform, unique in Europe, for cultural, social, economic and institutional interactions between the European Union and India. The assumption of this role will be achieved thanks to a careful analysis of socio-political and cultural dynamics, fundamental to promote mutual growth and to overcome stereotypes that can still today hinder dialogue. 

Dialogue and sharing are based on an in-depth knowledge of the complex dynamics currently in place. This is the formula that EU-India Association wants to follow. The Association carries forward a positive experience born in 2007, when Gozi inherited the role of President of the Italy-India Association from Sergio Mattarella. The EU-India Association aims today at collecting its inheritance.

In order to do so, the Association will open its ranks to new people, entities, organizations and firms that share its task of generating a fruitful relationship and an in-depth knowledge of Indian culture, by means of an organic and structured network. In fact, the Association is currently building its own collegial bodies, where an equal presence of European and Indian members will work together to strengthen the existing bilateral contacts. An increasing involvement of new realities will make the dialogue more useful and interesting for everyone.