Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached Athens, the capital of Greece, for a day-long journey on 25 August after his three-day go to to South Africa for the fifteenth BRICS summit. He was acquired by the nation’s international minister George Gerapetritis and accorded a grand ceremonial welcome upon his arrival.
Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis acquired PM Modi on his arrival in Athens. https://t.co/ypTaUC6VyQ
— ANI (@ANI) August 25, 2023
The Mediterranean nation had not seen an Indian prime minister on their soil in forty years until in the present day. According to the Ministry of External Affairs, either side hope to develop and broaden their engagement within the areas of commerce and funding, infrastructure cooperation, shipbuilding, and defence and safety.
Just in: Indian PM Modi reaches Greece’s capital Athens; marks a major milestone as he turns into the primary Indian Prime Minister to go to the nation in 4 many years.
— Sidhant Sibal (@sidhant) August 25, 2023
PM Modi met the Indian diaspora who gathered exterior Hotel Grande Bretagne in Athens to greet him.
#WATCH | PM Modi arrives at Hotel Grande Bretagne in Athens, meets Indian diaspora gathered exterior the resort to greet him on his arrival in Greece pic.twitter.com/BreljFoTiN
— ANI (@ANI) August 25, 2023
The prime minister reached Athens after he concluded the fifteenth BRICS summit in Johannesburg the place it was introduced that Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Argentina, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia would be a part of the strategic alliance as full members from 1 January 2024.
Prime Minister’s schedule in Greece
Plenty of agreements are anticipated to be signed through the vital go to which befell on the invitation of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and emphasis on topics like commerce and funding, transport, migration and defence cooperation. Greece may additionally strategy India for help within the privatisation of its seaports and airports in an effort to grow to be India’s gateway to Europe.
The Indian prime minister is scheduled to pay a go to to put a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Athens which is positioned in entrance of the Parliament constructing, based mostly on the preliminary itinerary. It is the nation’s second hottest vacationer attraction after the Acropolis.
Afterwards, there can be closed-door delegation-level discussions between the 2 leaders and they might then collectively deal with influential enterprise figures from the 2 nations. Narendra Modi would additionally work together with members of the Indian diaspora in Athens. It is estimated that there are 13,000 to 14,000 of them dwelling there. The prime minister would be a part of a enterprise lunch hosted by his counterpart and return to India at round 7:25 within the night.
The international affairs ministry acknowledged that New Delhi considered the go to as a transfer to enhance safety and defence ties and speed up navy exchanges and coaching. Additionally, PM Modi may focus on cooperative manufacturing and expertise alternate in addition to invite the Greek authorities together with companies to take part within the Make in India initiative, significantly within the defence trade.
The main improvement occurred after S Jaishankar, the minister of exterior affairs, visited the nation in 2021 and rekindled relations between the 2 nations. The European nation signed the International Solar Alliance Framework Agreement and supported an settlement on the Missile Technology Control Regime with India at the moment.
Significance of the go to
The Ministry of External Affairs described the go to as essential and termed the nation as “one of the most important European partners of India” earlier than the prime minister’s departure to Johannesburg. Greek Ambassador to India, Dimitrios Ioannou, additionally echoed related sentiments and talked about that the 2 nations would concentrate on fostering larger connectivity between India and the European Union.
The go to has wider geopolitical ramifications along with deepening relations and enhancing safety cooperation with Greece. The arrival of PM Modi solely strengthens ties with the nation which has historically backed India within the Kashmir battle. This is useful since Pakistan is advancing the false narrative in opposition to the Indian state on a world scale.
India’s increasing connections with Greece would profit India within the Mediterranean space, which is essential for the nation’s vitality safety attributable to its huge oil and gasoline sources. Growing ties between the 2 nations are additionally an efficient deterrent to China’s rising sway within the Mediterranean.
Beijing has been stepping up its financial and navy affect within the area, subsequently, New Delhi’s go to is the perfect step to counter that rising affect. The partnership can also be an effort by New Delhi to counter the evolving Pakistan, Turkey and Azerbaijani axis.
Notably, Greece has been trying to reinforce relations with India in an effort to combat their shared foe, Turkey. Tensions between Athens and Ankara have continued for years attributable to quite a lot of bilateral disputes together with disagreements over maritime boundaries, conflicting claims to respective continental cabinets and the protracted Cyprus battle.
As Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan takes an aggressive stance on Kashmir and brings it up at each United Nations deal with, the connection between New Delhi and Ankara can also be chilly.
The increasing ties between India and Greece are unequivocal proof that New Delhi is trying to broaden its world affect and is now not snug with taking a again seat.
Late Indira Gandhi was the final Indian chief to go to the Mediterranean nation again in 1983. Andreas Papandreou, a former Greek prime minister had made three journeys to India earlier than the current developments. Once in January 1985 for a summit on nuclear disarmament, in November 1984 for Indira Gandhi’s burial which was adopted by one other go to in January 1986 because the chief visitor for India’s Republic Day celebrations.