Prime Minister Narendra Modi will embark on an official visit to Greece on Friday at the invitation of his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the first by an Indian PM since Indira Gandhi’s visit in 1983.
PM Modi’s itinerary includes a ceremonial welcome, wreath-laying at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, delegation-level talks, addressing key business leaders from both nations, and engaging with the Indian diaspora in Greece. The two countries share historical and cultural ties going back millennia.
In an interview to News18, the Greek Ambassador in New Delhi, Dimitrios Ioannou, touched upon the key items on agenda during PM Modi’s visit and the significance of the bilateral meeting.
Edited excerpts:
What are the key agenda items that the two countries would want to discuss during the Indian Prime Minister’s visit to Greece?
As this is a historic visit, they will discuss all aspects of bilateral relations. This is a meeting of the leadership of two countries that have been friends for many years and now will further upgrade their relationship.
How do you envision the visit of PM Modi strengthening the bilateral relations between Greece and India, particularly in areas such as trade, investment, and cultural exchange?
We believe a further decisive boost will be provided in all these areas. We aspire to be the gateway for India to Europe, including trade and investment. In 2022, the volume of our bilateral trade increased by 58%, reaching a peak of 1.32 billion euros, which constitutes an all-time high for the last five years. We would like to encourage Indian strategic investments in ports, airports, logistics, renewables, real estate, information technology, agriculture, and pharmaceuticals according to the “Greece 2.0 masterplan”.
Greece has a new growth-enhancing framework and a new legal framework for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) which is really attractive for foreign strategic investors. A direct flight between Delhi and Athens and Mumbai and Athens would be very beneficial in this regard.
With respect to culture, in March 2022, the bilateral Cultural and Education Exchange Program 2022-2026 was signed, providing further impetus for all cultural exchanges. And the implementation of the program is a very important aspect. One landmark conference on the Greek World and India took place last year at the Greek Chair of the Jawaharlal Nehru University and a follow-up conference will take place next month.
Scholarships for Indian students and academic cooperation sprang from this conference. Furthermore, we encourage, for example, contact between the leading museums of India and Greece through the hosting of joint exhibitions given the very important collections of Indo-Greek art and numismatics in the museums of India from North to South (these artefacts actually bear testimony of the extent and the wealth of our relationship throughout the millennia).
Given Greece’s strategic location and its role in the Mediterranean region, how do you see the two nations cooperating on regional and international issues of mutual interest, such as maritime security and counterterrorism?
We aspire to enhance our cooperation in the maritime security area which is very important for us. We are both maritime nations. We share a joint commitment to international law of the sea (UNCLOS). The Indo-Pacific’s geostrategic importance has been rising. We support the vision of a free, open, prosperous, peaceful and rules-based Indo-Pacific. We welcome India’s “Indo-Pacific Ocean Initiative” (IPOI). Taking into account that Greece is the country with the largest merchant fleet in the world, freedom of navigation is of paramount importance to us.
Now, on terrorism, Greece has also suffered. We have vehemently condemned terrorism in all its forms. We have also condemned the Mumbai attacks. We were honoured to participate in the ‘No Money for Terror’ international conference that India organised last year and to explore the synergies in tackling this complex threat.
In what ways does Greece foresee enhancing people-to-people connections and fostering greater cultural understanding between the citizens of both nations as part of the visit’s outcomes?
I referred to the cultural exchanges before. Altogether, as the visit has a strong business component, we believe it will provide altogether a further impetus for investment, connectivity and tourism. Greece is already very popular with Indian tourists. We have the same concept of ‘Atithi Devo Bhava’. A joint declaration of intent on migration and mobility has been signed last year and the enhancement of people-to-people ties, through legal avenues of course, can only be further boosted by the visit.
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