New York: India and the four-member Visegrad group of Central European countries Monday agreed to step up political, economic and defence cooperation at their first foreign ministers’ meeting, which External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar described as a “new historic occasion”.
The Visegrad Group (V4) is a cultural and political alliance of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia that aims at advancing co-operation in military, economic, cultural and energy affairs.
The first meeting of the foreign ministers of the Visegrad Group and India was held on Monday on the margins of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly.
Jaishankar joined Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Radek Sikorski, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Hungary Anita Orban, Slovak Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Juraj Blanar and Czech Foreign Minister Petr Macinka for the meeting.
“It was, in a sense, a new historic occasion,” Jaishankar said in remarks after the meeting.
“It was a very, very productive meeting. What we agreed was that since India’s relationship with the European Union itself is deepening, with the V4 we would take some special initiatives to create an annual business forum,” he said, adding that there was “consensus” that the foreign ministers of the five nations in the group would meet annually.
“We would also explore in technology and innovation whether we could be doing more. We have a very strong history with all the V4 countries in defence. We want to refresh and take forward that record and that cooperation,” Jaishankar said.
The group also discussed issues including space, connectivity, and people-to-people mobility.
Jaishankar said the meeting was “very worthwhile” and “very productive”, with discussions focusing on cooperation as well as major global crises, including the Ukraine conflict and developments in the Gulf.
“It was really a very, very worthwhile, very productive meeting. I’m very pleased about it,” he said in remarks to reporters after the meeting.
In a post on X, Jaishankar said the first meeting in the V4+India format agreed to closer political cooperation, including annual meetings of foreign ministers, and deeper economic cooperation, including the Annual Business Forum.
The countries also agreed to strengthen technology, innovation, research and education partnerships; reinvigorate defence cooperation; further develop cultural cooperation and people-to-people relations and work together to support multilateralism, he said.
Jaishankar also said that India has “very good” relations with the V4 countries.
“These are countries with a very strong, very distinctive capability. These are industrial economies, economies with great innovation and technology talent, and I think how the V4 come together is for them to decide. But we certainly welcome the opportunity to work with the V4 together,” he told reporters.