More than 20 Indian businessmen are expected to arrive in Greece on Thursday to hold B2B contacts with Greek entrepreneurs, while the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, is coming to Greece on Friday after the BRICS Summit held in South Africa.
Returning from South Africa, Modi will pay an official visit to Greece on August 25 at the invitation of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. This will be the first visit of an Indian prime minister to Athens in 40 years. The two countries are aiming at the upgrade of their relationship.
As the President of the Hellenic-Indian Chamber of Commerce and Economy, Angelos Tsavdaris, said to “Naftemporiki”, the Indian businessmen who visit Athens are active in the sectors of energy, education, agriculture, hotels, ports, medicine, trade, and IT. The aim of the Chamber is to form a comprehensive framework of understanding that will help develop a relation of cooperation between the two countries. For this reason, Mitsotakis has already planned a visit to India accompanied by a large group of Greek businessmen.
India is the most populous country with 1.4 billion inhabitants. Greek exports barely correspond to 135 million euros, while India’s global imports exceed 320 billion euros over the last years. Moreover, the country has an annual outbound tourism of 40 million high income people.
The Communication Director of the Athens International Airport (AIA), Ioanna Papadopoulou, also stated to “Naftemporiki” that the AIA is targeting the Indian market, a demanding market of high strategic importance, since it is a new destination for both Athens and Greece in general. After all, attracting Indian tourists to Greece is fully aligned with the policy of targeting high-income travelers, since 2% of Indians are particularly well-off.
In addition it is believed that economic cooperation can also be developed in tourism as Indians do not travel in the summer season. Furthermore, issues of workforce and technology will be discussed, as they have advanced companies in the IT sector, but also commercial partnerships in the pharmaceutical sector and in food, such as kiwifruit, etc.
According to India’s Ministry of External Affairs: “India and Greece have cultural ties, which have been strengthened in recent years through cooperation in areas such as maritime transport, defence, trade and investment and people-to-people ties. The Prime Minister will hold talks with Mitsotakis to discuss ways to further deepen this relationship. He will also interact with businessmen from both countries as well as the Indian community in Greece.”
Indian Prime Minister Modi has been in Johannesburg since August 22, where he is participating in BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa). The visit is being monitored closely by diplomatic circles both for possible expansion of the group and for a possible bilateral meeting between Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Before the G20 Summit to be hosted by India on September 9-10, Modi is expected to travel to Indonesia on September 6-7 to attend the India-Asean and East Asia Summit.
