industries. Foreign affairs He has long-standing experience of India, was a founder member of the Parliament's "Friends of India" group, Chairman of the Europe-India Chamber of Commerce and, since 2014, Chairman of the parliament's official Delegation for Relations with India. He also chairs the "Friends of Sri Lanka" and "Friends of Zimbabwe", where he was a consistent and outspoken opponent of the Mugabe regime. He was elected as the Co-Chairman of the Asia-Europe Political Forum, involving some 360 political parties from 52 Asian countries. During the accession of Bulgaria to the European Union, Van Orden was the rapporteur for Bulgaria in the European Parliament, and regularly reported on the progress of the country with regard to EU membership requirements. His final report in November 2006 confirmed Bulgaria's preparedness to join the EU. Terrorism He is Vice Chairman of the Special Committee on Terrorism. His commitment to counter-terrorism has informed some of his involvement in countries such as Sri Lanka, India, Israel and the Gulf states. European Conservatives & Reformists He was instrumental in the creation of the European Conservatives & Reformists (ECR) political group in the European Parliament, an event that had the aim of building support for conservative change in the European Union. He was its Vice Chairman for most of the time since its foundation in 2009, growing to become the third largest of eight groups in the Parliament, with members from 18 countries. He is also the Founding President of its think-tank, New Direction - the Foundation for European Reform, whose patron was Baroness Thatcher (her last major public event was to launch New Direction, in the City of London). Political positions Van Orden has said he is a eurosceptic seeking reform of the EU while trying to avoid a total break. He is opposed to European political integration. He believes in and facilitates the enlargement of the EU so as to make an ever closer union more difficult to achieve. He is opposed to British membership of the euro, the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe and the Treaty of Lisbon. He had long campaigned for the Conservative Party to end their association with the European People's Party in the European Parliament, an aim which was finally achieved in 2009. Van Orden was the last Conservative MEP to declare a position prior to the Brexit referendum. He opted to vote to remain for pragmatic reasons, in