EAM Jaishankar meets Greek counterpart, discusses regional & global issues

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on a two-day visit to Greece held bilateral talks with his Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias. Following Greece, Jaishankar will head to Italy to attend the G-20 Ministerial meeting, said Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi had informed during a weekly briefing. 

Reportedly, EAM Jaishankar and Dendias conducted a productive discussion on regional and global issues.

Taking to Twitter, Jaishankar said that the European country was an important partner in India's broader European Union (EU) engagement and looked forward to formal talks anticipated on June 26. 

'Unofficial' dinner between leaders

In an "unofficial" dinner, Nikos Dendias hosted India's Foreign Affairs Minister. It was the first EAM-level visit to Greece in about 18 years.

Taking to his Twitter handle, he stated, "Ι am hosting an unofficial dinner to welcome #India FM@DrSJaishankar who arrived in #Athens today."

G20 Ministerial meetings

MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi informed during the briefing that post-Greece, EAM was scheduled to travel to Italy to attend the G20 ministerial meetings. These related to ministerial meetings at foreign ministerial level as well as development ministerial level,

"EAM Jaishankar will be leaving tomorrow for his visit to Greece and Italy. In Greece, he is making a bilateral visit on June 25-26 to hold talks with Greece counterpart along with other engagement," said Bagchi. This will be Jaishankar’s first visit to Greece in about 18 years, the one being in 2003.

The G20 is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 countries and the EU. Italy has been organising the Presidency of G20 since December 2020. The Foreign Affairs Ministers' Meeting is one of the ministerial conclave organized as part of the G20 Leaders Summit 2021. The meet is set to take place after the Group of Seven (G7) nations and guest countries had a "detailed discussion on the need for reforming global health governance".

India has been actively engaged with international communities at the level of G20, G7 and World Health Assembly on various aspects related to dealing with the current pandemic. Now that the G7 leaders’ summit ended on June 13, the next major event for G20 will take place at June end.