Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Dendias’ statement at his meeting with Minister of External Affairs of India, Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar (New Delhi, 23.03.2022)

Thank you so much your Excellency, Dr. Jaishankar,

It is such a great pleasure and also a great honour for me to be here in New Delhi, today. I have to say, this is our third meeting in less than a year, this says something. Earlier, you were kind enough to remember your visit to Athens.

I have to be honest with you from the beginning. We aspire our relation to become a strategic one, and I hope that Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Mitsotakis will meet shortly exactly for that purpose.

I have to say also, it is 75 years for you, and 200 years for us, but we also share the fact that we are the first and you are by far the biggest democracy in the world. A very proud democracy. Mahatma Gandhi was born here, also Nehru, Sardar Patel, very important statesmen who are very well known to the world, not just to us.

And also, as again you were kind enough to remark, we see many things in a very similar way: the International Law, sovereignty, human rights, prohibition of use of force and our shared commitment to International Law of the Sea, to UNCLOS. This and also maritime security is very important to us.

I am so happy to be here today, so honoured, and I am looking very much forward to our discussion on all serious issues, starting of course with the crisis in Ukraine. This for us will be a great opportunity to hear the way a big power like India sees things. But it will allow also me to brief you on the situation in Eastern Mediterranean, on the issue of Cyprus and on all other important issues in our region.

Again, thank you so much for hosting me.This is a great opportunity for enhancing our bilateral partnership.