India, Portugal review bilateral ties, discuss global issues of mutual interest

NEW DELHI: India and Portugal held fourth Foreign Office Consultations in Delhi on Wednesday and reviewed entire spectrum of bilateral ties. The two sides also discussed global issues of mutual interest.

During the meeting, Sanjay Verma, Secretary (West) led the Indian side, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) official spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated in a post shared on social media platform X. The Portugal side was led by Political Director at the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Rui Vinhas.

In a post on X, Randhir Jaiswal stated, "4th India-Portugal FOC held in New Delhi today. Led by Secy (West) @SanjayVermalFS and Director General @nestrangeiro_pt@ruivinhas5. They reviewed entire spectrum of bilateral ties and discussed global issues of mutual interest."

Earlier in October, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar visited Portugal. During the visit, Jaishankar stressed that Indo-Portugal relations had seen a lot of new energy and activities for several sectors, noting that trade and investment are clearly a strong driving force.

Jaishankar, along with his Portuguese counterpart Joao Cravinho, delivered a joint statement during a press briefing in Portugal, where both ministers discussed various aspects of the India-Portugal relationship.

He further emphasised that Indian IT companies have made their mark in Portugal. In addition, Jaishankar expressed joy that India's main milk and dairy company, Amul, is the first Indian regional sponsor of the Portuguese national football team.

"I'm happy to see Amul, the main milk and dairy company, is the first Indian regional sponsor of the Portuguese national football team," he said.

Shedding light on defence cooperation, Jaishankar said that the two ministers also discussed defence cooperation, start up and innovation.

"There was some talk between us on direct air connectivity that is today a missing piece in our relationship. We are very confident that our exchanges will expand once we can progress on that and both of us put a lot of weight on tourism and that to grow direct air connectivity,' he added.

Furthermore, EAM Jaishankar highlighted that they also discussed how they can work trilaterally in third countries.

"There was some discussion on how we could work trilaterally in third countries because both of us have some history of doing development, partnerships, capacity building, education, health... so to the extent we can pull our resources, experience and relationships," he added.

Meanwhile, Portuguese Foreign Minister Joao Cravinho stressed that India is a country that is very close to our hearts, further noting that "this is a moment in which it is extremely useful to exchange views on some of the considerable difficulties of the international system."