SPEECHES / STATEMENTS 

PM’s Statement on India-Portugal Bilateral Summit

December 1, 2007, New Delhi

Prime Minister Jose Socrates and I have just concluded very fruitful talks today. Our bilateral Summit meeting carried forward the momentum generated by the successful visit of the President of Portugal to India in January 2007.

It was during Portugal’s Presidency of the EU in 2000 that the Portuguese leadership proposed a Summit level meeting between India and the EU. The eighth India-EU Summit held yesterday, under the Portuguese Presidency, thus has an added significance for India-Portugal bilateral relations.

We agreed that we should rekindle our historical links and build a strong, contemporary relationship that reflects the vast goodwill that our people have for each other and the immense potential for bilateral collaboration.

We shared the view that the present level of bilateral trade at US$397 million is far below our potential. We agreed to make full use of the opportunities that are emerging from the rapid growth of India and the expansion of the European Union to actively enhance trade and investment, including by encouraging greater business-to-business interaction.

Indian and Portuguese majors in the IT and pharmaceuticals sectors have recently entered each other’s markets. We agreed to encourage more such investments.

We also discussed avenues for trilateral cooperation especially with the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries. We are already cooperating in the field of hydrocarbons in Angola.

Science and technology is yet another promising area in which we can pool our resources. There has been exchange of scientists and we would like to build upon this. We have identified high technology areas such as information technology, biotechnology, bio-informatics and nanotechnology as focus areas for joint collaboration. For this we will re-energize the existing inter-governmental mechanisms.

Parliamentary exchanges between the two countries are an intrinsic element of our mutual desire to broad-base our relations. Our respective Parliaments have constituted Friendship Groups, and we both agreed that this initiative deserved our full support.

We have also agreed to promote greater bilateral exchanges in the fields of sport, culture and tourism. We welcomed the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the All India Football Federation and the Portuguese Professional Football League. I am sure all football lovers in India will welcome this. There is also immense scope for working together in the area of restoration and conservation of our cultural heritage.

Portugal has the third largest Indian origin community in Europe. I conveyed to Prime Minister Socrates our admiration for Portugal’s tolerant and open society. The richness of Portuguese culture in Goa, Daman and Diu is well known to every Indian, and we celebrate this legacy.

We also exchanged views on regional and international issues. We are grateful to Portugal for its most friendly understanding and support to India’s candidature for permanent membership of an expanded UN Security Council.

Based on our talks today I can say that we have a warm, trusted and reliable friend in Portugal, and specifically in Prime Minister Socrates. India looks forward to taking this important relationship forward in all areas.