Vice President Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu’s 3 nation visit to Serbia, Malta and Romania

On September 14, 2018, Vice President Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu commenced his official visit to Serbia, Malta and Romania till September 20, 2018.
Highlights:
i. Vice President visited Serbia from September 14-16, 2018,

• He visited Malta from September 16-18, 2018 and
• He visited Romania from September 18-20, 2018.

ii. The Vice President will be accompanied by Shri Shiv Pratap Shukla, Minister of State in Ministry of Finance, three Members of Parliament from Rajya Sabha- Shri Prasanna Acharya, Smt Vijila Sathyananth, Ms Saroj Pandey and one Member of Parliament from Lok Sabha- Shri Raghav Lakhanpal and other officials.

3-day Visit to Serbia:
On September 14-16, 2018, Vice President Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu visited Serbia at the invitation of the President of Serbia, Mr. Aleksander Vucic.

• The Vice President laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Serbia.
• He gave floral tribute to the bust of Mahatma Gandhi in Belgrade in Serbia.

Meeting with President of Serbia, Mr. Aleksander Vucic
i. On September 14, 2018, VP met with President of Serbia, Mr. Aleksander Vucic and discussed:

• Participation of the President of Serbia in the Vibrant Gujarat Summit,
• Bilateral cooperation on agriculture, pharmacy, IT and generic medicines, defence cooperation,
• Agreement on Plant Protection and Quarantine for trade in fruits, vegetables and processed foods,
• Revised Air Services agreement aims at promoting connectivity.

ii. He attended the National Assembly of Serbia and held delegation level talks with Ms. Maja Gojkovic, Speaker of the National Assembly of Serbia and  Ms. Ana Brnabic.
iii. Earlier, former Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru addressed the world leaders while launching the Non-Alignment Movement (NAM) along with the veteran leader of Yugoslavia  Marshal Tito in 1961 in the National Assembly of Serbia.

Attending the Business Forum in Serbia:
On September 14, 2018, the VP also addressed the special session of the Parliament of the Republic of Serbia in Belgrade.

• He interacted with the Indian Community during the visit.
• During this interaction he addressed the four key features of India’s development. He called them 4Ds – Democracy, Demographic dividend, Demand and Diaspora.

Other News:
Serbia Post and India Post have released commemorative stamps on renowned Serbian Physicist and Innovator Nikola Tesla and Swami Vivekananda.

Serbia:
♦ Capital: Belgrade.
♦ Currency: Serbian dinar.

3day visit to Malta:
On September 16-18, 2018, the Vice president visited Malta from September 16-18, 2018 at the invitation of the President of Malta, Ms. Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca.

Meeting with President Ms. Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca
On September 16, 2018, the two leaders discussed the whole gamut of bilateral relations:
They discussed on:

• Acknowledgment Indian diaspora in Maltese society especially in sectors like Health care and Information Technology.
• On Counter terrorism and global warming and climate change,
• Malta expressed its desire to join the International Solar Alliance.

Following MOUs were made after the meeting:

• MoU on Maritime Cooperation between Ministry of Shipping, India and Ministry of Transport, Infrastructure and Capital Projects, Malta,
• MoU on mutual cooperation between the Foreign Service Institute, India and The Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies, University of Malta, and
• MoU in the field of Tourism Cooperation between India and Malta.

He had meeting with Dr. Angelo Farrugia, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Parliament of Malta and Mr. Evarist Bartolo, Acting Prime Minister of Malta.

Background:
India was one of the first countries to recognize Malta in 1964 and established diplomatic relations soon after the independence of Malta.

Malta:
♦ Capital: Valletta.
♦ Currency: Euro.

3-day Visit to Romania:
On September 18-20, 2018, the Vice President visited Romania from September 18-20, 2018 at the invitation of the Mr. Calin Popescu-Tariceanu, the President of the Senate of Romania. 

Meeting with the President of Romania, Mr. Klaus Iohannis:
On his meeting with the President of Romania, Mr. Klaus Iohannis the following were discussed:

• Strong support for resuming India-EU Broad based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) after Romania assumes Presidency of EU.
• Romania’s support of India’s aspirations to become a Permanent Member of the UN Security Council.
• Support to developing consensus on draft UN Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism.
• Special interest in Space and Aerospace,

Following MOUs were signed:

• MOU on Cooperation on Tourism,
• MOU between Petroleum-Gas University, Ploiesti and Pandit Deen Dayal Petroleum University, Gandhinagar ,
• 3 MOUs between Bucharest Chamber of Commerce each with CII, ASSOCHAM and PHDCCI.

Addressing India-Romania Business Forum:

• The Forum was co-ordinated by Bucharest Chambers of Commerce and Indian Chambers of Commerce like CII, PHDCCI, and ASSOCHAM. 
• Cooperation in sectors like Petroleum and Natural gas Information technology, manufacturing, defence, pharmaceuticals, infrastructure, real estate, tourism etc. were discussed.

Other News:

• In Romania, the Vice President launched two books on Ayurveda and inaugurated an Ayurveda Information Centre.
• VP addressed the Prahova Chamber of Commerce in Ploiesti and also addressed the vibrant Indian diaspora in Romania on 20 September.

Romania:
♦ Capital: Bucharest.
♦ Currency: Romaian leu.