Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I welcome you to this special briefing by Foreign Secretary Shri Vinay Kwatra on the ongoing state visit of the Prime Minister of Greece. Sir, I hand over the floor to you.
Shri Vinay Kwatra, Foreign Secretary: Thank you and good afternoon to the members of the media on this special briefing with regard to the ongoing visit of the Greek Prime Minister.
Prime Minister of the Hellenic Republic, His Excellency Mr. Kyriakos Mitsotakis, is as Randhir said, is on a state visit to India on today and tomorrow. He is accompanied by a high-level official delegation, has also a 60-plus strong business delegation. Greek Prime Minister was accorded a ceremonial welcome this morning at the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan, after which he visited Rajghat to pay respects to Mahatma Gandhi. And this afternoon, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Greek Prime Minister held detailed talks both in the restricted format as also in the delegation-level format. They also addressed the media thereafter, and Prime Minister Modi hosted a lunch in honor of the visiting dignitary thereafter.
Just a while ago, Prime Minister Mitsotakis called on the honorable Vice President, and earlier in the morning, External Affairs Minister had called on the Greek Prime Minister. Later in the evening, Prime Minister Mitsotakis will be the chief guest and the keynote speaker at the ninth Raisina Dialogue, to be inaugurated later this evening. The Greek Prime Minister will also be meeting the business leaders in the second leg of his visit. He would also be visiting Mumbai before returning to his country. You would all recall that Prime Minister Modi had visited Greece in August last year.
This visit of the Greek Prime Minister is taking place within the six months time frame of Prime Minister Modi's visit. You would also recall that during Prime Minister's visit to Greece, both countries had decided to elevate their relationship to a strategic partnership. This visit of the Greek Prime Minister and the discussions – comprehensive discussions – during the ongoing visit have focused on enhancing and enriching all elements of strategic partnership, whether it's in the political domain, security aspects, economic relationship, as also the cultural ties.
Both leaders also discussed the regional and the global issues of common concern, as also the ongoing developments in Europe. When Prime Minister had last visited Greece, both leaders had expressed commitment to double bilateral trade by 2030. During the discussions today, they identified several areas of cooperation in which our partnership would help us achieve that target of doubling our trade volume. In this includes the space of pharmaceuticals, one, infrastructure development, particularly relating to ports, cooperation in the shipping space, chemical industry, the digital segment of cooperation, food and communication sectors, as also defense cooperation, agriculture and tourism also came in for particular mention during the bilateral discussions today.
The two leaders also focused on the importance of enhancing connectivity, both maritime connectivity as also partnership through corridors, particularly India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor, and also the air connectivity in terms of intent of both the leaders to encourage the private sector to start direct bilateral flights between India and Greece. In the terms of areas of cooperation, besides the segments that I mentioned – areas of space, nanotechnology, biotechnology, quantum computing, clean energy, renewable energy, start-up and innovation sectors – also were discussed in detail. An important element of people-to-people ties that was emphasized by both the leaders in terms of our efforts to structure that cooperation is migration and mobility partnership agreement, an area where there is complementarity of interest, it's in advanced stages of consideration and we expect that this agreement could be finalized in months ahead. There was also a focus on cultural cooperation between the two sides, both in terms of enhancing the cross-cultural collaboration, protection and preservation of the cultural heritage, and also enhancing cooperation in terms of the academic institutions between the two countries. During the August meeting, when the Prime Minister had visited Greece, both leaders had agreed on regular contacts and exchange of views with regard to developments across the world as also on the regional security threats, particularly in the eastern Mediterranean and also in the Indo-Pacific regions.
As a follow-up to those decisions during the August visit, the two national security advisors have subsequently met and are progressing their conversation on matters of security interest between the two countries as also how they impact both countries based on the developments elsewhere in the region. Both leaders reinforced their commitment to build in this regard the partnership in the Mediterranean Sea as also in the Indo-Pacific.
As I mentioned, they also exchanged views on how to build our cooperation in the context of India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor. Prime Minister Mitsotakis also conveyed the decision by Greece to join the Indo-Pacific Ocean Initiative led by India. The two leaders also exchanged their common concern with regard to challenge of terrorism and condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. On the climate change action, the Greek Prime Minister underlined the importance of India's leadership in the International Solar Alliance. Prime Minister Modi also highlighted the work that India is doing and scope of building partnership with Greece in so far as the alliance of the CDRI is concerned. This is the Coalition on Disaster Resilience. Besides the discussions between the two leaders, several MoUs and understandings have also been arrived separately between the private sectors, as also between the think tanks of the two countries.
As I mentioned in my opening remarks, the return visit of Prime Minister of Greece within six months of Indian Prime Minister's visit to Greece brings to fore the shared commitment of the two sides to deepen their strategic partnership, and very comprehensive and rich discussions today focused on…I would say, all aspects of building that strategic partnership – economic, political, as also security. I'll stop here and take questions if there are any.
Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: Start here. Shudhi.
Shudhi Ranjan: Sir, Shudhi Ranjan from Bloomberg. Sir, you mentioned about IMEC port infrastructure, figuring in the Prime Minister's – the leaders' discussion. If you could give us any details about whether any particular ports will be identified and if it will be a government-to-government contract, or if there is a private sector, if so, who – and the format of it, Sir, and the contours. Thank you, Sir.
Siddhant: Hello, Foreign Secretary, I'm Siddhant from CNN News 18. Sir, Prime Minister of Greece, in his remarks, said that Indian companies are investing in Greece. If you could perhaps elaborate the sectors in which Indian companies are investing, and you know, has these – the investment that the Prime Minister of Greece has spoke about, they've started or the talks are going on? Thank you.
Huma Siddiqui: Sir, I'm Huma Siddiqui from the Financial Express. You mentioned that the talks also featured on defense and space. So, in the defense sector, was the buying of Mirage 2000s on the agenda, and also in space sector, what exactly was the discussion about?
Sidhant: Sir, Sidhant from WION, were there any discussions on specific ports, the Piraeus port? Was there talks between the two sides?
Rishabh: Foreign Secretary, Rishabh from Times Now. Sir, as you mentioned, mobility has been discussed, as well as academic institutions have been discussed. If we can have a clear picture whether the academic institutions, they are public, for example, we have opened some IITs in overseas campuses, are there any discussions about that? And when it comes to mobility, anything that students can expect between India and Greece?
Shri Vinay Kwatra, Foreign Secretary: See, with regard to the India-Middle East-Europe Corridor, the discussions were not limited to identifying the segments in which the partnership would take place. The discussions took place in the larger context of stronger connectivity between India and Greece, and to look at all possible options that would strengthen this connectivity. India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor is one such corridor that would strengthen this connectivity, and given the importance, the strategic importance that Greece holds in terms of its location, its importance, and the manner in which Greece could partner with the IMEC corridor was discussed. Going forward, as the specifics of this will get fleshed out, naturally it would have to focus on the ports which would form part of such…its connectivity with this corridor. It would also have to look at the enabling provisions which happen through G2G agreements, and naturally there will have to be a private sector partnership also in these things. So I don't think the discussions were not in an exclusive frame of reference that this is excluded, this is included. It was all encompassing, with the direction being positive and comprehensive.
With regard to the investments reference by the Greek Prime Minister, a significant Indian business presence is already there in Greece. So whether you take the field of pharmaceuticals, or you take the field of chemicals, or you take the field of infrastructure, these are the areas in which Indian companies already have a strong economic presence in Greece. The two leaders, and that is perhaps also the intent behind the strong business delegation accompanying the Greek Prime Minister, the two leaders identified new areas in which this economic presence could be built. I mentioned to you the startup and the innovation sector. I mentioned to you the quantum part, I mentioned to you the nanotechnology and the microelectronics. So for example, microelectronics and nanotechnology and the quantum computing, there is a fair bit of strong presence of institutions relating to these sectors in Greece. The main objective of the discussion was how does the institutions in both the countries – both the private sector as also the government – come together to leverage cooperation in these sectors. Biotechnology is another area which featured, both in terms of commercial cooperation as also G2G cooperation.
Similarly, tourism, as I mentioned to you. Air connectivity is linked in that case because in our context it would essentially now be the private sector which would set up this air bridge connectivity between India and Greece. So it is not that the Indian economic presence in Greece is just starting to be talked about. It's already there. The discussions were focused more on how to broad base this across different domains and within the existing domains where there is economic and commercial presence, how do we deepen it in that sense. Defense sector and the space sector, which you mentioned. See, in the defense sector both India and Greece are looking at partnership which is not just limited to defense trade. And even when I talk about defense trade, I'm not referring to particular platforms. Defense trade extends to many areas of defense technologies which is not limited to defense platforms.
So for example, there are many parts of defense industrial supply chains where there could be trade relationship between the defense industries of the two countries. You heard Prime Minister say in his press remarks that co-production and co-designing in many areas of defense industrial technology could be an important element of partnership. You would also be aware that Greece uses same aviation platforms that are employed by the Indian defense forces also. Clearly, the interoperability and those commonality of the platforms enables defense force to defense force collaboration. Both defense forces of both the countries have also been doing very extensive exercises between the two countries. So it's not…defense was talked about in a…I should say in a very comprehensive form, not limiting itself to a purely defense trade segment.
With regard to the space sector, Prime Minister Modi highlighted to the Greek Prime Minister India's core competencies and capabilities and strengths in this area. And the Greek Prime Minister acknowledged it and did say that in so far as running a strong space sector on budget is concerned, Greece would definitely be…it would definitely be of interest to Greece. So we are looking at collaborations in those areas. Again, space is a sector within which you have several subsegments which are heavily technology-dependent, industry-reliant. And I think the private sectors on both sides could partner in those areas.
Specific ports were discussed or not. I think, you see, when they discussed cooperation in the context of connectivity, when they spoke of the need for that connectivity, the discussions were not, as I said, limited in one particular context. So while no specific ports came up for conversation, came up in the conversation, the idea was that how exactly do you enhance strategic connect between the two economies through the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor, and in that context, if you have to use particular ports, what would be the framework of such cooperation in the port sector, in the logistics sector, in the shipping aspect of it. So no specific ports as such came up for discussion.
Mobility partnership…the discussions between the two leaders clearly brought out the areas in which there is complementarity between the two economies, where the two economies could harvest the benefits through the mobility partnership agreement. Skilled manpower across various domains is one element of it.
The sectors of construction, agriculture, the reference to what you mentioned about students, the students per se didn't come up, but as and when the university linkages between the two countries get strengthened, and as more and more Indian students, for example, were to travel to Greece to study, then the post-study placement of the students and how they connect with the domestic economy and the presence in the country, those would hopefully all get covered in the mobility partnership agreement. I must mention that agreement is still under negotiation. It has not been finalized. So I at this stage cannot identify for you the specific segments that will be covered, but you heard about it in the remarks by the Greek Prime Minister, and this also was a very…they spent considerable time, both leaders spent considerable time discussing this element of India-Greece cooperation.
Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: So we have a question here, Suhasini.
Suhasini Haidar: Foreign Secretary, this is Suhasini Haidar from The Hindu. I just wanted to pick up on your answer to Sidhant's question. It is now, this month will mark six months since the IMEC proposal was launched at the G20 summit. In that MoU, it says very clearly that the parties would meet within I think 60 days to take forward the contours of the MoU. Of course, since then the conflict has broken out with Israel and Hamas in Gaza and it seems as if on the ground there doesn't seem to have been much movement either in terms of the meetings on IMEC or in terms of taking some of these proposals forward. I wanted to ask if the Prime Minister and Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis actually discussed the situation when it comes to the conflict in Gaza because that continues and continues to hold up the IMEC proposal and whether they discussed possibly diverting the IMEC route around Israel so that they can take it forward while the conflict still ensues.
Kadambini Sharma: Kadambini Sharma from NDTV. Sir ye direct flight shuru karne ki baat hai, iska time frame kya hain?
[Question in Hindi: Approximate translation] Kadambini Sharma from NDTV. Sir, what is the timeframe for starting these direct flights?
Raghvendra Verma: Yeah, Foreign secretary this is Raghvendra Verma from ZDF, German Television. So you mentioned pharmaceuticals been discussed. This is also a subject if you can elaborate on that because then there will be India-EU free trade agreement which is under discussion that before that is India with the other four countries including Switzerland and there the data exclusivity is being discussed. So can you elaborate if with the pharmaceuticals exactly what came up with the Greek Prime Minister?
Abhishek: Hi sir, Abhishek Jha from CNN News 18. My question is regarding this direct air connectivity. Six months ago also the two leaders had talked about it and so could you give us some timeline as to when we can expect there will be some direct flight between India and Greece?
Vishu: Hello sir, this is Vishu from ANI. Sir, in higher education sector can we expect any participation from Greek universities? Can we expect any campus of Greek universities there or vice versa?
Shri Vinay Kwatra, Foreign Secretary: With regard to the discussions around IMEC, and we had in some ways had an exchange on this element, even one of the previous pressers.
First, yes, there seems to be an implicit linkage in the question with regard to what is happening in the Gaza and whether in any way that is related to IMEC in so far as the discussions between the two leaders are concerned. The situation in Gaza, the conflict there as also the challenges we are experiencing in the Red Sea, the commercial shipping being diverted through Cape of Good Hope, economic cost being incurred by the shipping and by the economies as a result of that. All that was definitely an important segment of discussion between the two leaders. They shared their perspectives on what the nature of these challenges and going forward how exactly India-Greece could cooperate to see that the result of these challenges is mitigated and also the possible direction of this conflict and the need and you heard this probably, I think it was there in Prime Minister's remark, the need for these conflicts to be addressed through dialogue and diplomacy.
When it came to India Middle East Economic Corridor, there are two parts to your question. One, in terms of the work that has happened on this particular corridor since its launch in September and two, whether there was a discussion to bypass the corridor through a particular geography. As I have mentioned in one of my previous responses also, not today but in the earlier presser, the discussions with regard to the specifics of the individual sub-segments of the IMEC Corridor, whether these are segments relating to the railways, segments relating to the shipping, segments relating to putting the logistics standards that will operate in the corridor, they have been progressing very strongly and very robustly in the months since the launch. I am sure you would have closely followed a couple of MoUs which were signed during the Prime Minister's recent visit to the UAE between the RITES and the Abu Dhabi ports companies. Some of them do have a linkage to how they would network with the IMEC Corridor. Insofar as the alignment of the IMEC Corridor is concerned, that remains unchanged as of now.
Direct flight ki samay sarini, dekhiye ye direct flights dono deshon ke bich me Bharat me jo is samay paripekshya hai woh private sector dwara chalegi. Dono sarkaron ka ye prayas hai ki niji kshetra ki jitni airlines hain unko dono deshon ke bich me jo tourism related potential hai, jo business related sambhavnaye hain usko lete hue dono deshon ke niji kshteron ko encourage kiya jaye, protsahit kiya jaye, ki ye flights jitni jaldi se jaldi shuru ho sake. Ye ab kitne samay me shuru hogi ye toh kehna thoda kathin hoga kyuki ye jo nirnay hain, ye private sector ke dwara, jo ki private sectors se liye jayenge.
[Answer in Hindi: Approximate translation] The timeframe for direct flights, you see, these direct flights between the two countries in India at this time will be operated by the private sector. It is the effort of both the governments that as many private sector airlines as they have, as there is tourism related potential between the two countries, as there are business related possibilities, to encourage private sectors of both countries to start flights as soon as possible. It is a bit difficult to say how soon they will start because these decisions will be taken by the private sectors.
I didn't quite understand the question that you asked with regard to…I mean I got the pharmaceutical part but I did not get the pharmaceutical part as connected to data connectivity that you mentioned about India and Europe. But restricting myself to the pharmaceutical sector, this is an area which is already of substantial cooperation between India and Greece. And the idea is to broad base this cooperation further within the field of pharmaceuticals, extend it to different segments of generics within this, perhaps extend it to the APIs if required. Trade is already a strong component of it but also brings in the manufacturers in the field of pharmaceuticals. I do not think the cooperation that we are doing with Greece in the pharmaceutical space has anything directly to do with the current ongoing discussions with the European Union on FTA or other elements. When those negotiations advance, when those discussions advance, then the questions of pharmaceuticals – we will see how they come up there. But during this visit and also during Prime Minister's visit in August, the focus was on strengthening and broad basing cooperation in the field of pharmaceuticals.
Universities, Vishu, your question. Look, it is our expectation that the university linkages between the two countries will enhance. We are in the process of expanding and encouraging universities of other countries to come up and set up their educational linkages in India with different universities. At this stage, I really do not have the names of specific universities that, you know, would form part of this linkage insofar as Greece is concerned. But as and when the discussions in this field expand and build up, as and when the university's name come up, we will definitely share them with you. Thank you.
Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: With that, we come to the close of this special press briefing by Foreign Secretary. Thank you very much for your presence.