Nikos Dendias: Greece aspires to strategic relations with India

Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias, during his visit to New Delhi, had a meeting with his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Wednesday.

According to amna, in statements at the meeting, Dendias said that Greece aspires to strategic relations with India and expressed hope that the prime ministers of both countries will meet shortly for that purpose.

“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,” he said.

He noted that this was their third meeting in less than a year, recollecting Jaishankar’s visit to Athens, and said the two countries, Greece as the first and India as the biggest democracy in the world, “see many things in a very similar way: 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 am very much looking 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 also allow me to brief you on the situation in the Eastern Mediterranean, on the issue of Cyprus and on all other important issues in our region,” Dendias added, noting that the meeting was a great opportunity for “enhancing our bilateral partnership”.

FM Dendias wraps up official visit to India. Call with Ukrainian counterpart

Greece’s stance on the Law of the Sea Convention (UNCLOS) and the security of maritime communications were stressed during Foreign Affairs Minister Nikos Dendias’ visit to India, he said on Wednesday.

In a statement following the conclusion of his contacts in New Delhi with Indian Vice President Venkaiah Naidu and External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, FM Dendias said that India was also a signatory to UNCLOS and a member of the UN Security Council.

Referring to his meeting and working luncheon with Jaishankar, Dendias said it was their third meeting in the space of a year. “As expected, we first discussed the crisis in Ukraine and I conveyed Greece’s positions” including the sanctions following European Union directives, he said. As the Greek minister noted.

“We agreed that this development is entirely incompatible with international law, and the attempt to change borders through violence as well as the lack of respect of territorial integrity is entirely beyong the international law framework.”

Other issues they discussed included developing economic relations between Greece and India, the East Mediterranean, and the Cyprus issue. “Cyprus has historic relations with India, from the era of Archbishop Makarios and Jawahrlal Nehru,” Dendias noted.

During his official visit to India, Dendias was received by Vice President Naidu, to whom he conveyed the best wishes of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Ukrainian FM thanks Greece for aid

While visiting India, FM Dendias was also called by his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba, who expressed his gratitude to Greece on behalf of his government and President Volodymyr Zelenski for the humanitarian aid Greece sent to Mariupoli.

The situation at the heavily bombed city “is entirely unacceptable, entirely incompatible with humanitarian law, a situation that creates massive problems with loss of civilian lives, a situation entirely condemnable,” Dendias said in his statement.