India, Greece elevate ties to level of strategic partnership

Athens: India and Greece on Friday elevated their ties to the level of a strategic partnership with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis resolving to give new momentum to the relationship, especially in areas of defence and security, trade and emerging technologies.

Modi said both sides also set a target of doubling bilateral trade by 2030 and decided to firm up a migration and mobility partnership pact soon to facilitate skilled migration between the two countries.

"Prime Minister Mitsotakis and I decided to take India-Greece relations to the level of strategic partnership," Modi said after his talks with his Greek counterpart.

In his media statement, the prime minister said that it was agreed that there should be an institutional dialogue framework between India and Greece at the level of national security advisors.

"We have decided to boost cooperation in areas of defence and security, infrastructure, education, new and emerging technologies, and agriculture," Modi said.

He said both sides also focused on enhancing cooperation to combat terrorism.

In the area of defence and security, both the countries agreed on strengthening defence-industrial cooperation apart from military ties, he said.

Referring to the Ukraine crisis, Modi said India and Greece support diplomacy and dialogue to resolve it.

He also thanked the people of Greece and the country's President Katerina N Sakellaropoulou for awarding him with the Grand Cross of the Order of Honour award.

On his part, Mitsotakis said both sides are ready to move forward to deal with various challenges, "especially in a period of upheaval and war in Ukraine".

In recent years "our relations have greatly improved and there is scope for a very wide range of bilateral cooperation in the fields of economy, defence, culture and tourism", he said.

"Our first objective is to double our bilateral trade," he said.