New Delhi, February 19 – Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Greek counterpart, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, held a meeting on Thursday on the sidelines of the ongoing AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, also discussing ways to boost connectivity, particularly through the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC).
The leaders of India, the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and the US announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) committing to work together to develop a new India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) during the G20 Leaders’ Summit held in New Delhi in 2023.
The IMEC will comprise two separate corridors: the eastern corridor connecting India to the Gulf, and the northern corridor connecting the Gulf to Europe. The corridor aims to enhance connectivity, increase efficiency, reduce costs, secure regional supply chains, increase trade accessibility, and generate jobs, resulting in a transformative integration of Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.
According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), during their meeting on Thursday, the two leaders reviewed various aspects of the India-Greece strategic partnership, particularly in the fields of trade and commerce, defense and security, tourism, culture, and collaboration in AI and other emerging technologies.
"The leaders discussed boosting connectivity, particularly through IMEC, and looked forward to the early implementation of the India-EU FTA, which will bring immense benefits to the economies of both countries and lead to greater technological collaboration, investment, and job creation, particularly for young people. Prime Minister Modi thanked Prime Minister Mitsotakis of Greece for his strong support to India in its fight against terrorism," the MEA stated after the meeting.
Earlier, during his address at the AI Impact Summit, Prime Minister of the Hellenic Republic thanked India for organizing the "very important" event, which has placed India and the Global South at the heart of global conversations on Artificial Intelligence (AI).
"The theme of the summit, 'People, Progress, and Planet', reflects the fact that Artificial Intelligence is not only a profound and massive technological change, but also a cultural change. The choices we make today will determine whether artificial intelligence will expand opportunities or deepen inequalities," said Mitsotakis.
He mentioned that governments must ensure that workers are retrained, small businesses have access to AI tools, public services are upgraded, farmers, nurses, teachers, and small entrepreneurs should feel the tangible benefits of this technology.
"Concerns about the displacement of a significant part of the workforce are reasonable and must be addressed as soon as possible. In Greece, we are moving in this direction as digitalization has made public services much more accessible. The integration of artificial intelligence in education will contribute to reducing the learning gap, while advances in telemedicine, predictive analytics, and personalized preventive care are making healthcare much more proactive, shifting it from treatment in hospitals to prevention at home and improving the quality of life of all citizens," he added.
He also stated that Greece has built partnerships with all major cloud service providers, while at the same time developing its own capabilities through EU-backed AI factories and initiatives, led by national champions, attracting investment from around the world.
"A world in which technology is harnessed to pressure trusted partners or in which overregulation becomes a tool to stifle innovation is a world in which collective innovation declines. If we fragment the AI ecosystem into rigid compartments, we reduce the benefits for everyone. If we harness interdependence responsibly, we expand opportunities for everyone," remarked Mitsotakis.
"As I listened to Prime Minister Modi, I thought that it is the combination of artificial intelligence and ancestral intelligence, whether it is found in ancient Sanskrit texts or in the writings of Greek philosophers, that will ultimately lead us to a more just future, with prosperity. This is the message that Greece wants to send to the world, and I hope it resonates," he concluded.