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INDIA-GREECE RELATIONS |
| India and Greece established diplomatic relations in May 1950. India opened its resident Embassy in Athens in March 1978. Interaction between India and Greece goes back to antiquity. In modern times, the two countries have developed a warm relationship based on a common commitment to democracy, peace and development in the world and to a social system imbued with principles of justice and equality. India and Greece also share common approaches to many international issues, such as UN reforms and Cyprus. Greece has been consistently supporting of India’s core foreign policy objectives. |
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Bilateral Agreements |
Agreement on Cultural Exchange, 1961
Agreement on Avoidance of Double Taxation, 1967
Agreement for Joint Commission for Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation, 1983.
(5th session held in New Delhi on 12-13 November 2007).
Joint Business Council of FICCI and ASSOCHAM and the Athens Chamber of Commerce, 1996.
Agreement of Cooperation between Hellenic Foreign Trade Board and India Trade Promotion Organisation, 1996.
Agreement on Tourism Cooperation, 1998.
MOU on Defence Cooperation, 1998.
MOU for Cooperation in Agriculture, 2001.
Agreement on Promotion and Reciprocal Protection of Investments (BIPA), 2007.
Agreement on Cooperation in Science & Technology, 2007.
MOU between CII and Federation of Greek Industries, 2007.
MOU for Cooperation between Institute of Science, Bangalore and National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), 2007
Executive Programme on cooperation in areas of mutual interest in Science and Technology sector was signed in November 2010
MoU between BIS and Greek Standardisation Organisation (ELOT) for Cooperation signed on September 2011.
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Bilateral Visits |
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Visits from India |
Name |
Designation |
Period/Purpose of Visit |
Shri Zakir Hussain |
Vice President |
Early 1960s |
Shri Humayun Kabir |
Education Minister |
Early 1960s |
Shri Jawaharlal Nehru |
Prime Minister |
Stop-over on his way to London for one of the Commonwealth conferences |
Smt. Indira Gandhi |
Prime Minister |
1983 |
Shri Khurshid Alam Khan |
MOS for External Affairs |
January 1985 |
| Shri Zail Singh |
President |
November 1986 |
| Shri Shankar Dayal Sharma |
President |
One day stop-over in July 1993 |
| Shri Mallikarjun |
MOS for Defence |
October 1994 |
| Shri Salman Khurshid |
MOS for External Affairs |
February-March 1995 |
| Shri K.R. Narayanan |
Vice President |
Unofficial visit on his way back to Rome in May 1995 |
| Dr. Najma Heptulla |
Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha |
January 1996 |
| Shri S. Mallikarjunaiah |
Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha |
January 1996 |
| Shri T.G. Venkataraman |
Minister for Surface Transport |
June 1996 – to attend the funeral of former Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou |
| Air Chief Marshall S K Sareen |
Chief of Air Staff |
March 1998 |
| General V P Malik |
Chief of Army Staff |
March 1998 |
| Shri Suresh P. Prabhu |
Union Minister of Environment and Forests |
August 1998 – to attend “Athens Summit 1998” |
| Shri G.M.C. Balayogi |
Speaker of Lok Sabha |
1-2 February, 2000 (in transit) |
| Shri Krishan Kant |
Vice President |
16-17 June, 2000 (in transit) |
| Shri Harin Pathak |
Minister of State for Defence Production |
1-5 October, 2002 to attend Defendory 2002 exhibition |
| Shri Yashwant Sinha |
External Affairs Minister |
16-17 January 2003 – India-EU Troika Ministerial and bilateral talks |
| Shri Manohar Joshi & a Parliamentary delegation |
Lok Sabha Speaker |
May 24-25, 2003 (transited through Athens on their way to Portugal) |
| Shri I.K. Gujral |
Former Prime Minister |
3-6 September, 2003 – attended a conference of the World Public Forum “Dialogue of Civilizations” held in Rhodes Island |
Shri Sunil Dutt
Shri Jagdish Tytler |
Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports
Minister of Non-Resident Affairs |
August 2004 – for Olympic Games |
| Shri Kawkab Hameed |
Minister of Tourism of UP |
5-7 March, 2006 – promotion of tourism |
Vice Admiral Sangram Singh Byce,
Four Indian Naval Ships INS MUMBAI, INS BRAHMAPUTRA, INS BETWA and INS SHAKTI |
Flag Officer Commandin-in-Chief Western Command |
July 9-13, 2006 |
| Shri Anand Sharma |
Minister of State for External Affairs |
27-29 August 2006 |
| Shri Somnath Chatterjee & 14 member Parliamentary delegation |
Speaker, Lok Sabha |
24-28 September 2006 |
| Shri Ashok Chawla (6-member delegation) |
Secretary, Civil Aviation |
28-31 March, 2007 (first round talks on new air services agreement |
| Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam |
President |
25-28 April 2007 |
| Shri Shankersinh Vaghela |
Minister of Textiles |
27-29 January, 2008 |
| Kumari Selja |
Minister of State (I/C) for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation |
25-29 March 2008 |
| Maj Gen GD Bakshi led a 16-member study team of the National Defence College |
National Defence College |
18-23 May 2008 |
| Shri Prem Prakash Pandey |
Hon’ble Speaker, Chattisgarh Legislative Assembly |
29-31 July 2008 (Study tour) |
| Shri Nalin Surie |
Secretary(West) |
31 July -01 August 2008 |
| Shri Nalin Surie |
Secretary(West) |
24-26 February 2009 – For Foreign Office Consultations |
Vice-Admiral S. Bhasin Two Indian Naval Ships INS DELHI and
INS BEAS
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Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief’,
Western Fleet |
18-21 July 2009 |
Shri Pawan Kumar Bansal
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Minister for Parliamentary Affairs & Water Resources |
18-20 January 2010 – Leader, 13-member Indian Goodwill Delegation of Parliamentarians |
Sri Ramendra C. Debnath
Sri R. Avudaiappan and Shri K. Radhakrishnan
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Speaker of State Assemblies – Tripura, Tamil Nadu and Kerala |
21-24 September 2010 (Study tour) |
Dr. A.K. Sood
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Head, Int. Co-operation, Science & Technology Div. |
3-5 November 2010 |
Jyotiraditya Scinidia
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Minister of State (Commerce and Industry) |
28 March 2011 – 6th Joint Economic Committee Meeting, Athens |
Visits from Greece:
Name |
Designation |
Period/Purpose of Visit |
Mr. Constantinos Karamanlis |
President |
March 1982 – State visit |
Ms. Melina Mercouri |
Minister of Culture |
March 1983 |
Mr. Andreas Papandreou |
Prime Minister |
November 1984 – to attend funeral of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi |
Mr. Andreas Papandreou |
Prime Minister |
1985 to attend 6-Nation Summit on Nuclear Disarmament and in January 1986 on a bilateral State visit as the Chief Guest for Republic Day celebrations. |
Delegation |
Ruling PASOK party |
December 1985 – to attend the centenary celebrations of the Indian National Congress |
| Mr. Apostolos Kratsen with 4-member Parliamentary delegation |
Member of Parliament |
March 1993 – to attend the 89th Inter-Parliamentary Conference |
| Mr. Yioannis Kranidiotis |
Deputy Foreign Minister |
November 1997 – to attend the Conference of the Socialist International |
| Mr. Constantinos Stephanopoulos |
President |
January 12-18, 1998 |
| Mr. Akis Tzohatzopoulos |
Greek Defence Minister |
5-9 December 1998 |
| Mr. Lambros Papadimas |
Minister of Health |
Republic Day Celebration in 1999 |
| Mr. George Papandreou |
Foreign Minister |
December 2000 |
| Mr. Dimitris Apostolakis |
Deputy Defence Minister |
February 2001- to attend Aero India 2001 in Bangalore |
| Mr. Konstantinos Simitis |
Prime Minister |
4-9 February 2001 – State visit |
| Mr. George Papandreou |
Foreign Minister |
2 November 2001 – transit halt |
| Mrs. Maria Arseni led a Greek Parliamentary delegation |
Member of Parliament, PASOK |
January 21-27, 2003 |
| Mr. Apostolos Kaklamanis |
President of the Hellenic Parliament |
15-20 February 2003 |
| Mr. Georgios Alogoskoufis |
Minister of Finance and National Economy of Greece |
7-11 February 2007 |
| Mr. Petros Doukas |
Deputy Foreign Minister |
12-13 November 2007 (for Joint Economic Commission meeting) |
| Mr. Kostas Karamanlis |
Prime Minister |
10-13 January 2008 – State visit |
| Mr George A. Papandreou |
Prime Minister |
04-05 February 2010 (for 10th Delhi Sustainable Development Summit) |
| Mr. Yannis- Alexis Zepos |
Secretary-General of Ministry of Foreign Affairs |
26-27 October, 2010 - Foreign Office consultation – New Delhi |
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Bilateral Trade |
| US$ million |
Year |
India’s Exports to Greece |
India’s Imports from Greece |
Total Trade |
| 2006-07 |
671.98 |
209.49 |
881.47 |
| 2007-08 |
530.95 |
126.81 |
657.44 |
| 2008-09 |
878.43 |
69.49 |
947.92 |
| 2009-2010* |
452.80 |
154.13 |
606.93 |
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(Source: Export Import Data Bank, Department of Commerce, Government of India) |
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The main items of Greece’s exports to India are machinery, rubber and plastic products, cotton, copper products, iron and steel products, wood products and chemicals.
The main items of India’s exports are machinery, automobiles and auto parts, iron and steel, aluminium, copper, dyes and chemicals, and textiles and garments.
50 Companies under overall supervision of ITPO participated in Thessaloniki International Trade Fair in September 2010 and 46 companies participated in September 2011.
A “buyer-seller” meet was organized on 14 April 2011 in Athens which was attended by Director, Tea Board, London. |
Investment |
| There are no major investments in Greece or in India from either side, but some companies in the field of IT and construction are leading the way. The following Greek companies are operating in India - (i) The Pisani Group, (ii) M.J. Mallis & Co., (iii) European Dynamics and (iv) Frigoglass. The following Indian companies are operating in Greece: Infosys, TCS, I-flex, Jain Irrigation Systems, Quoprro Global Services, and Tata Steel. Indian Register of Shipping has also opened an office in Piraeus in Greece. |
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| Cultural Relations |
India's cultural relations with Greece are based on a bilateral Cultural Agreement which was signed in 1961 and revived in 1995. The current Cultural Exchange Programme for the period 2003-2006 expired in 2006. However, it will continue to be in force till a new agreement is signed. There are several private cultural organisations in promoting cultural contact between two countries. In India, the Greek centres are in Calcutta and Varanasi, while in Athens there are several Indophile organisations such as the Hellenic Indian Society, Yoga Institute, Bharatanatyam school, and the Brahmakumari Ashram.
Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) has agreed with the Athens University of Economics & Business (AUEB) to establish a short term ‘Chair’ in the field of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Prof. K. Kumar, Professor, IIM, Bangalore, who was deputed by ICCR as Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship for a period of three months, joined AUEB on 9th March 2010. Prof. Jai Prakash Sharma of Delhi School of Economics visited Athens University of Economics and Business from 14-29 October 2010 under the Indo-Greece Cultural Exchange Programme.
In January 2002, President Shri K.R. Narayanan presented the “Padma Shri” to Ambassador Dimitris Velissaropoulos, who had written several books on India. Ambassador Velissaropoulos passed away in September 2002. The award was the first given to a distinguished Greek citizen. In October 2002, The Sahitya Academy elected Dr. Vassilis Vitsaxis, a distinguished Greek diplomat and well-known scholar, as its Honorary Fellow in recognition of his contribution to promoting understanding of Indian culture.
Dr Dimitrios Vassiliadis, Professor of Hindi & Sanskrit, School of Foreign Languages, University of Athens, completed research at the BHU under ICCR Fellowship, spread over different periods during December 2009 – April 2011.
Every year a scholarship is offered to a Greek national under the ICCR’s General Cultural Scholarship Scheme.
Greek city of Thessaloniki was twinned with Kolkata in January 2005.
The following cultural events have been organised by the Embassy in Greece since 2010
- A folk dance troupe from Orissa sponsored by ICCR participated in the International Folklore Festival in Lefkas in August 2010.
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Air links |
There is no direct air link between India and Greece. Athens can be reached via Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Istanbul, Doha, Bahrain, Amman and several cities in Europe. |
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