India

The partnership between the IEA and India has gone from strength to strength since the first co-operation in 1998. In March 2017, India joined the IEA as an Association country and deepened its ties with the Agency. This partnership now includes collaboration across the full spectrum of the energy sector with a focus on both energy security and clean energy transitions. The IEA engages closely with a diverse set of stakeholders from the Government of India, to think tanks, corporates, academia and civil society.

Both the IEA and India benefit from this strong relationship. With its ‘all fuels, all technologies’ approach, the IEA has been supporting India on several critical energy topics, including projects on the expansion of renewables, energy efficiency, the energy-environment nexus, oil stocks and emergency preparedness, data and statistics, investment, and innovation and digitalisation. At the same time, the IEA greatly values the benefits this partnership brings – given India’s importance in global energy markets and the benefits of sharing India’s remarkable experiences with other countries.

Within four years of India joining the Association initiative, the IEA Members and India signed a Framework for a Strategic Partnership on 27 January 2021, committing to strengthening collaboration and engagement.

The Strategic Partnership is being developed in accordance with a mandate given by IEA members at the IEA Ministerial meeting in 2019 to deepen substantive cooperation and strengthen institutional ties with countries seeking to go beyond Association status. India is the first IEA Association country to take this formal step to go beyond Association status.

The Framework for a Strategic Partnership is a significant step forward in that process. It highlights the commitment – from both the IEA Members and India – to work together as active partners in developing the content of the Strategic Partnership, which will define the deepened substantive cooperation and institutional relations. The Strategic Partnership will be developed based on a mutually satisfactory balance of benefits and commitments, taking into consideration the discussion on potential paths to eventual IEA membership in accordance with the Agreement on an International Energy Programme.