Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday held bilateral meetings with the top leaders of Greece, Switzerland and the Netherlands, which focused on strengthening ties in the areas of trade and investment and critical technologies including semiconductors.
PM Modi held meetings on the sidelines of the summit on the impact of AI.
The prime minister also met with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Khaled bin Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and the discussion focused on strengthening cooperation in futuristic sectors such as artificial intelligence, supercomputers and data centers.
“Both leaders reaffirmed the importance of India-UAE comprehensive strategic partnership underpinned by strong political, cultural, trade, energy and people-to-people ties,” the official text said.
She said the two leaders recognized the “enormous progress” made in bilateral relations in a wide range of sectors such as defense and security, trade and investment, education and cultural cooperation.
What did PM Modi and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi discuss?
Modi and Al Nahyan appreciated the significant two-way investment flows and encouraged UAE Sovereign Wealth Funds to continue investing in the Indian economy, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a release.
“They also discussed opportunities for cooperation between India and the UAE in strategic sectors such as space, nuclear energy, technology and innovation,” they said.
Meeting between Modi and Swiss Pres
In the meeting between Modi and Swiss President Guy Parmelin, the two sides reviewed the entire spectrum of bilateral relations, including trade and investment, science and technology, innovation, skill development and cultural exchanges.
“Both leaders welcomed the deepening of economic ties and underlined the positive momentum brought by the implementation of the recently concluded historic India-EFTA Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) between India and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA),” the MEA said.
Switzerland is a key member of the four-member EFTA. As part of the trade pact, EFTA countries Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland are set to invest USD 100 billion in India over the next 15 years. The pact entered into force on 1 October.
“Both sides agreed to further strengthen cooperation in innovation-led growth, joint research, sharing of best practices and capacity building through training and skill development initiatives,” the MEA said.
“The meeting ended with a shared vision to take the India “Switzerland” partnership to new heights,” it said.
In their meeting, Modi and Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof reaffirmed their commitment to further deepen the India-Netherlands partnership in sectors such as water, agriculture, health, clean energy, green hydrogen and defense and security.
“They agreed that the conclusion of the milestone India-EU Free Trade Agreement negotiations provided a historic opportunity to realize the full potential of the trade and economic partnership between the two countries,” the MEA said.
She said the two leaders also exchanged views on important regional and international developments and reaffirmed their commitment to work together on multilateral platforms to address global challenges.
“Prime Minister Modi reiterated India’s position on the conflict in Ukraine and emphasized the need for its speedy end. Both leaders pledged to strengthen the global fight against terrorism,” the MEA said.
In their talks, Modi and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis reviewed the full range of bilateral strategic partnership and noted that cooperation is growing at a steady pace in various fields.
“They also discussed the way to further strengthen cooperation in new areas of interest, besides exchanging views on regional and global issues of concern,” the MEA said.
“The two leaders agreed that the recent high-level exchange of visits has given new impetus to the strategic partnership and that the recently concluded India-EU Free Trade Agreement will open new avenues for trade and investment between the two countries,” it said.