New Delhi, February 19 Prime Minister Narendra Modi held bilateral meetings with the top leaders of Greece, Switzerland, and the Netherlands on Thursday, focusing on strengthening ties in areas of trade and investment and critical technologies, including semiconductors.
Modi held the meetings on the sidelines of the AI Impact Summit.
The prime minister also met Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and the discussions centered around boosting cooperation in futuristic sectors such as artificial intelligence, supercomputers, and data centers.
"Both leaders reaffirmed the importance of the India-UAE Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, which is underpinned by strong political, cultural, commercial, energy, and people-to-people ties," an official statement said.
It stated that the two leaders acknowledged the "tremendous progress" achieved in bilateral relations in a wide range of sectors such as defense and security, trade and investment, education, and cultural cooperation.
Modi and Al Nahyan commended significant two-way investment flows, and encouraged the UAE Sovereign Wealth Funds to continue investing in the Indian economy, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in the statement.
"They also discussed collaborative opportunities between India and the UAE in strategic sectors such as space, nuclear energy, technology, and innovation," it said.
The meeting between Modi and Swiss President Guy Parmelin saw both sides reviewing the full spectrum of bilateral relations, including trade and investment, science & technology, innovation, skill development, and cultural exchanges.
"Both leaders welcomed the deepening of economic ties and underscored the positive momentum generated 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-nation EFTA. Under the trade pact, the EFTA states of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland are looking to make an investment of USD 100 billion in India over the next 15 years. The pact came into force on October 1.
"Both sides agreed to further strengthen collaboration in innovation-led growth, joint research, sharing of best practices, and capacity building through training and skill development initiatives," the MEA said.
"The meeting concluded with a shared vision to elevate 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 in trade and economic partnership between the two countries," the MEA said.
It stated that the two leaders also exchanged views on important regional and international developments, and reaffirmed their commitment to working together on multilateral platforms to address global challenges.
"Prime Minister Modi reiterated India's position on the conflict in Ukraine, emphasising the need for its earliest possible cessation. Both leaders committed to strengthening the global fight against terrorism," the MEA said.
In their talks, Modi and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis reviewed the entire gamut of bilateral strategic partnership and noted that cooperation is growing at a steady pace in diverse fields.
"They also discussed the way forward for further strengthening cooperation in new areas of interest, besides exchanging views on regional and global issues of interest," the MEA said.
"Both leaders agreed that recent high-level visits have given a new impetus to the strategic partnership, and that the recently concluded India-EU FTA will open new avenues for trade and investment between the two countries," it said.