India and the four-member Visegrad group of Central European countries on 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”.
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 a very, very productive meeting. “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. “It was really a very, very worthwhile, very productive meeting.
“It was, in a sense, a new historic occasion,” Jaishankar said in remarks after the 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 want to refresh and take forward that record and that cooperation,” Jaishankar said. 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. 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.
