New Delhi, Jan 11: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday spoke with the Portuguese Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva and discussed the Covid situation. He also said that New Delhi counts on Portugal’s strong support for expanding India’s relations with Europe.
In a tweet, the EAM said that the India-EU Leaders’ summit in Porto last year in May and the Migration & Mobility Agreement with Portugal were landmarks in 2021.
“Called my friend FM Augusto Santos Silva of Portugal. Discussed the Covid situation.
“The India-EU Leaders’ Meeting in Porto and Migration & Mobility Agreement with Portugal were landmarks in 2021.
“Count on Portugal’s strong support for expanding India’s relations with Europe,” he posted.
Under Portugal’s EU Presidency from January to June 2021, Lisbon organised the first, full-fledged India-EU Summit (27+1) in May 2021.
The summit held in virtual mode brought Prime Minister Narendra Modi in contact with the European institutions and with the 27 leaders of the EU.
Ahead of the India-EU summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Portugal PM Antonio Costa had in a joint open in Politico, noted: “India’s role as a major regional and global player is set to continue to expand over the coming years, and a strengthened partnership would offer Europe an opportunity to diversify relations in a strategic region of the world.”
PM António Costa’s assumption of office as Prime Minister of Portugal in November 2015 gave a boost to India-Portugal relations. PM Costa is the first Indian-origin Head of Government in the Western world. He holds an OCI card, takes pride publicly in his Indian roots and is keen to deepen India-Portugal engagement. His father Orlando da Costa grew up in Goa until the age of 17, and had close emotional ties with India.
During PM Costa’s visit to India in January 2017, he was also Chief Guest at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in Bengaluru where he was awarded the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award.
