India’s External Affairs Minister (EAM) Subrahmanyam Jaishankar paid a visit to Slovenia (2-3rd September 2021), Croatia (3 September 2021) and Denmark (4-5 September 2021) to review the bilateral relationship and strengthen India’s cooperation with the 3 European countries.
Slovenia:
i.At first, the EAM visited Slovenia from September 2 to 3, 2021. There he had a bilateral meeting with the Foreign Minister of Slovenia H.E. Dr Anze Logar.
ii.EAM was invited to attend the 2021 Bled Strategic Forum (BSF), an annual international conference which was held in Slovenia and participate in the panel discussion on ‘Partnership for a Rules-Based Order in the Indo-Pacific’.
- India was the only Asian country and one of 3 non-European countries along with the USA and Kenya to be invited for the 2021 BSF.
- Different Issues related to China-led Belt and Road Initiative’s (BRI’s) utility in Europe, China’s sanctions against European individuals and businesses, etc were discussed under the forum.
iii.Slovenia currently holds the Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Croatia:
i.On September 3, 2021, EAM had a bilateral talk with Croatian foreign minister Gordan Grlic Radman.
ii.EAM also had a meeting with Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and discussed opportunities to further expand bilateral cooperation, including in pharma, digital and infrastructure.
Denmark:
i.EAM visited Denmark from September 4 to 5 2021 and co-chaired the 4th round of the Indo-Danish Joint Commission Meeting (JCM) along with Jeppe Kofod, Foreign Minister of Denmark.
- Both discussed launching new important cooperation in the field of health to strengthen the bilateral Green Strategic Partnership.
- They have reviewed the progress of the Joint Action Plan.
ii.Denmark is the only country with which India is having a green strategic partnership, which was held in September 2020.
iii.India has 200 Danish companies operating in the country. Both the countries discussed bilateral cooperation and how to carry forward larger trade-investment agreements with the European Union.
Recent Related News:
Indian PM Narendra Modi virtually participated in the India-European Union (EU) Leaders Meeting 2021 which was held in a hybrid format on 8th May 2021 in Porto, Portugal. It is the 1st time that the EU has hosted a meeting with India in the EU+27 format.
About Ministry of External Affairs:
Union Minister – Subrahmanyam Jaishankar (Constituency – Gujarat)
Minister of State – V Muraleedharan (Constituency – Maharashtra), Meenakashi Lekhi (Constituency – New Delhi, NCT of Delhi), Rajkumar Ranjan Singh (Constituency – Inner Manipur, Manipur)
About Slovenia:
Capital – Ljubljana
Currency – Euro
President – Borut Pahor
