Greek Prime Minister’s Visit: Connectivity prospects reboot an ancient dialogue with India

PM Narendra Modi and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (right).

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis of Greece is currently on an official visit to India, which comes after a gap of 16 years. It is also a reciprocal visit to that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Greece in August 2023, when he became the first Indian Prime Minister in forty years to visit Greece.

This is the rebooting of an old relationship between the world’s two ancient civilizations. Bilateral ties were elevated to strategic ones during that visit with pledges made to double bilateral trade by the year 2030 and boost the defence industries of both countries, along with military-to-military ties.

Shared Security Concerns

For India, engaging with Greece is part of its wider Mediterranean outreach. While there have been a flurry of high level visits between India and Greece,
capped by the visit of the Prime Ministers of both countries,  India has also simultaneously been engaging with Cyprus. All three countries have shared concerns about Pakistan and Turkey provocations.  While Greece has been Turkey’s traditional rival, with disputed maritime boundaries, bilateral ties are also strained over the Turkish occupation of Northern Cyprus.

While cooperation and engagement span across a wide range of sectors – agriculture, pharma, space, migration, and so on –  the two main pillars of bilateral ties are defence, trade and connectivity.

In his press statement Modi underscored that "growing cooperation in defence and security reflects our deep mutual trust…..We have agreed to link the defence industries of both the countries. India and Greece have common concerns and priorities in the fight against terrorism....."

In this context, both India and Greece have common concerns regarding border conflicts, terrorism, and maritime threats with both countries having long coastlines. They both support a free, open and rules-based Mediterranean Sea and Indo-Pacific, in accordance with the provisions of the UNCLOS, and with full respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and freedom of navigation of all.

Both countries have participated in joint military exercises and are slated to collaborate in joint defence production in future.

Trade And Connectivity

The second pillar is trade and connectivity. Ahead of Mitsotakis visit, Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis said at the 2nd CII India Europe Business and Sustainability Conclave in New Delhi that Greece hoped to become an integral part of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEEC) and to be India’s gateway to the European Union. Leading a business delegation of a hundred entrepreneurs the Minister said that IMEEC will “enhance the strategic importance of the regions involved, both economically and from a geopolitical aspect, while promoting peace and stability.”

The IMEEC was unveiled during the Delhi G20 meet in September 2023, in great part, to find an alternative to the Suez route. It is also slated to cut down freight and transportation cost, as also to boost the economies of the participating states, and counter China's Belt and Road Initiative. The current crisis in the Red Sea with Yemen-based Houthi militants targeting commercial shipping adds urgency to alternative routes. The October 7, 2023, attacks by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel is also widely perceived as being, at least in part, an endeavour to halt the IMEC.  Its continuation, thus, is also necessary to counter the terrorist threats.

Greek media had earlier reported that India’s Adani group which operates India 's largest port at Mundra, as also Haifa Port in Israel, was believed to be negotiating for the acquisition of a port in Greece – either Kavala in northern Greece or Volos, 330 km from Athens – to turn it into a key gateway for Indian exports to Europe. Considering that China is already controlling Greece's Piraeus port near Athens, this would make much strategic sense. However, the Adani group has refuted this claim.

This, however, does not detract from the fact that Greece offers an opportune gateway to Europe, even as India negotiates a free trade agreement with the EU.  Even if IMEEC takes time to launch given the volatile situation in the Middle East, Greece can still be accessed via the Black Sea ports through the western route of the International North South Transport Corridor through Iran, Armenia and Georgia.

Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said that the private sector would be encouraged to launch bilateral flight services

As Modi said "As two ancient and great civilizations, India and Greece have a long history of deep cultural and people-to-people ties. For almost two and a half thousand years, people of both the countries have been exchanging trade and cultural relations as well as ideas." The prime ministerial visits are meant to continue these millenia old exchanges.

Aditi Bhaduri is a journalist and political analyst. Views are personal, and do not represent the stance of this publication.