The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, is visiting Greece today. According to government sources, the official visit of the Indian Prime Minister to our country as well as the contacts he will have with the President of the Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou and his Greek counterpart, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, reflect the targeting of Megaros Maximos, on the one hand, to put on a path of upgrading and of strategic cooperation Greece’s relations with India, on the one hand to highlight our country as India’s gateway to the European Union.

The visit is historic, as it is the first visit of an Indian prime minister to Greece in the last 40 years, since 1983, when Indira Gandhi visited our country. The same persons point out that Modi’s arrival is a milestone, which signals the will of both sides to restart, to expand Greek-Indian relations, but also to consolidate economic cooperation at the highest level.

At the Maximos Palace, they believe that Greece can become India’s geopolitical, but also economic gateway to the European Union, since, as they already note after Brexit, New Delhi is looking for alternative routes to Europe, with Greece’s position at the crossroads of three continents to be an ideal bridge to Europe, but also to the Eastern Mediterranean.

Anyway, government sources note, Greece and India are connected by historical ties: they are two naval powers, whose cooperation has been strengthened in recent years, especially in the fields of defense and culture, while it seems that there is still a wide field of synergies.

As reported by the Maximos Palace, Athens’ goal is to restart contacts at the highest level, which can lead to the intensification of economic cooperation and contacts between Greek and Indian businesses. This could well translate, as the same sources emphasize, into a greater presence of Indian groups in Greece, particularly in the sectors of infrastructure (ports, airports), high technology, renewable energy sources, tourism, but also strengthen the presence of Greek companies in India, especially in the food, pharmaceutical, shipping sectors.

Indicative of the great margins of Greek-Indian cooperation is the fact that Greek exports barely correspond to 1 euro per Indian, while India has an annual outbound tourism of 40 million high-income people.

In this context, the opportunities for both Greek and Indian companies in investments and collaborations are expected to be explored by agencies and business representatives from the two countries at a lunch that is being organized. For the Greek-Indian meal that will be welcomed by Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Narendra Modi, also signaling the will to strengthen economic cooperation, after all, representatives of important groups have traveled from India. The purpose is, as noted by government officials, to identify investment opportunities, but also to build relationships and partnerships.

The lunch will be attended by representatives of organizations and businesses that have either invested or are interested in investing in Greece. From the Greek side, the lunch will include companies that are active or are interested in doing business in India. Among others, the president of GMR (Kastelli airport), the second largest airport developer in the world, and the president of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) will attend on the Indian side, while on the Greek side, they will participate among others the president of the BSE and the president of the Union of Shipowners.