The “Turkiye factor” and Ankara’s overall policy towards South Asia is an important factor driving closer cooperation between India and Greece, an academic has told Sputnik India.
“There is certainly the geopolitical factor and therein Turkey, and its approach towards India could be a consideration. Hence, the Turkiye factor is important,” stated Muddassir Quamar, an Associate Professor at the Centre for West Asian Studies at School of International Studies (SIS), Jawaharlal Nehru University.
Quamar underscored the point that the Eastern Mediterranean region hasn’t conventionally been an “area of India's strategic engagement”.
The expert, however, added that India’s engagements in the region have been on the upswing in recent years.
“India is expanding its engagements in the region including with countries like Greece, so as Armenia and Cyprus, and this relates to both geopolitics and geoeconomics,” Quamar suggested.
Anil Trigunayat, former Indian Ambassador to Jordan, Libya and Malta, said that stronger India-Greece ties entail a “strategic messaging” to Ankara.
“The India-Greece strategic partnership sends a strategic message to Turkiye in view of its growing cooperation with Pakistan,” the former Indian diplomat told Sputnik India.
Narendra Modi held talks with Greek Prime Minsiter
© Photo : Twitter/@narendramodi
Greece’s Support for India on Core Interests
According to India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Greece has been supportive of India on the latter's “core interests”.
While Turkiye has been a consistent supporter of Islamabad on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, Athens' stance on the issue remains tilted towards India.
India also officially backs Greece’s stance on the Cyprus issue.
Significantly, Modi-Mitsotakis joint statement last week emphasized both the countries’ commitment towards a “rules-based Mediterranean Sea and Indo-Pacific”, in line with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
Greece has invoked UNCLOS to maintain navigation rights over the territorial waters of Aegean Islands, which are controlled by Greece but their sovereignty is disputed by Athens.
Trigunayat recalled that Athens also backed New Delhi when it was facing western sanctions after carrying out nuclear tests in 1998. New Delhi reciprocated Greece’s support by signing a defence cooperation pact with Athens the same year.
The former diplomat also noted that Greece’s ‘National Strategy for Extroversion Plan’ released in 2021 called for closer economic engagement with India.
Eastern Mediterranean’s Energy Resources are an ‘Attraction’ for India, Quamar Says
Quamar reckoned that the region’s “rich energy resources” remain an “attraction” for New Delhi to meet its expanding energy security requirements.
Trigunayat, for his part, called for strengthening cooperation between India and the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum (EMGF), an eight-member group formed to harness the natural gas reserves of the region.
According to projections, the eastern Mediterranean region is projected to emerge as a global leader in ‘Green Hydrogen’ production.
Various financial agencies have rated India as the fastest-growing major economy amid global economic headwinds confronting other big economies.
Currently the world’s fifth-biggest economy and the third-biggest oil importer, India is projected to account for nearly 25 percent of the global energy requirements by 2040, according to country’s petroleum minister Hardeep Singh Puri.
India’s power minister RK Singh has said that around 65 percent of the country’s requirements would be met through renewable energy by 2030, making availability of green energy sources critical for the country.
Expanding Economic Interactions
The joint statement released after bilateral consultations between Prime Minister Modi and Greek PM Mitsotakis calls for “deepening bilateral engagements, in the field of defence, shipping, science and technology, cyber space, education, culture, tourism and agriculture”.
Both the leaders have also stressed on the need for expanding India-Greece economic interactions in the framework of the proposed India-EU trade and investment negotiations and the “early implementation of the India-EU Connectivity Partnership”.
Bilateral trade stood at nearly $2 billion in 2022-23, according to official Indian data.
According to media reports, India is also seeking a share in Piraeus, Greece’s largest port, but nothing has been officially confirmed as of now.