The EU is India's largest trading partner; India, in turn, is only the EU’s tenth largest trading partner. And despite the two often having expressed an interest in closer trade and political relations, there has been no visible progress made in the last years. Ahead of the EU-India Leaders Summit on 8 May 2021, host Mark Leonard talks to Fréderic Grare, senior policy fellow with ECFR’s Asia Programme, Raja Mohan, director of the Institute of South Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore and columnist of the Indian Express, as well as Manisha Reuter, ECFR´s Asia programme coordinator. How does the covid-19 pandemic impact India´s geopolitics and foreign policy? How has the rise of China influenced EU-India relations so far? And what are the prospects of a closer EU-India relationship following the upcoming Summit? This podcast was recorded on 5 May 2021. Further reading: “The EU’s Indo-Pacific strategy: A chance for a clear message to China and Europe’s allies” by Fréderic Grare: https://buff.ly/3sKTjmO “Friends in deed: How the EU and the Quad can promote security in the Indo-Pacific” by Manish Reuter https://buff.ly/33ud7Ax Bookshelf - “Globalists: the end of empire and the birth of neoliberalism” by Quinn Slobodian - “India's power elite” by Sanjaya Baru - “India's China challenge: A journey through China's rise and what it means for India” by Ananth Krishnan “The Covid Consensus: The new politics of global inequality” by Toby Green https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/the-covid-consensus/