Seeking stronger trade and economic cooperation, the European Commission on Friday said there was a need to formulate an information technology policy to promote the competitiveness of the economy.

"It was imperative to formulate a policy, the overall goal of which should be to get everybody online," European Commissioner for Enterprise & IT, Erkki Liikanen, said at a Confederation of Indian Industry seminar in New Delhi on Friday.

Liikanen said that though there was a shift towards knowledge-based economy, the key question was role of public policies in creating growth-inducing environment.

On the Indo-EU relations, he said, "India and the European Union are committed to equal and dynamic dialogue."

EU was already India's major partner in terms of trade and investment inflows, Liikanen added.

V S Ramamurthy, secretary, department of science and technology, said: "R&D would play a pivotal role in furthering the benefits of ICT."

He said the circulation of minds and trained manpower between India and Europe would open new vistas of opportunities between the two regions.