NEW DELHI: India and Greece have raised their bilateral relations to a ‘Strategic Partnership’. This was announced during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first visit to Greece on Friday, when he was also conferred the ‘Grand Cross of the Order of Honour’ by President Katerina N Sakellaropoulou.
“I thank the people of Greece for conferring upon me the Grand Cross of the Order of Honour. This shows the respect the people of Greece have towards India,” said Modi.
The Grand Cross of the Order of Honour is conferred by the President of Greece to prime ministers and eminent personalities who, by reason of their distinguished position, have contributed to enhancing the stature of Greece.
PM Modi and President Sakellaropoulou spoke on several issues of interest to both nations. “We discussed ways to boost sustainable development and the President congratulated me on the success of Chandrayaan 3,” Modi said.
In his interaction with the PM of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Modi said they spoke about migration and mobility partnership and deepening ties in the educational institutions. Modi also extended an invite to Mitsotakis to visit India.
“Building on the long-standing, warm and close relationship between their countries and people, the two leaders decided to upgrade Greek-Indian bilateral ties to the level of a ‘Strategic Partnership’ and agreed to work to expand bilateral cooperation in political, security and economic spheres. The PMs also decided to take steps to further cement people-to-people ties between the two nations. Appreciating the increase in bilateral trade and economic engagement in recent years, they also directed that both sides shall work to double bilateral trade by 2030,” read a joint statement.
The leaders’ discussions ranged from trade and investment, defence and security, technology, infrastructure, digital payments, shipping, pharma, agriculture, migration and mobility, tourism and skill development, culture, education and people-to-people ties. They also discussed regional and multilateral issues, including the European Union, Indo-Pacific and the Mediterranean.