Understanding the EU Democracy Assistance to South Asia: Contemporary Perspectives

The European Union (EU) and South Asia share an age-old relation of history, culture and diplomacy. The first connectivity and partnership between both entities can be traced back to the 1967 Food Aid Convention.

At that time, India and Bangladesh were major beneficiaries of food aid by the European Economic Community (EEC). Initially, the EEC had close ties only with African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states.