Warsaw [Poland], September 22 (ANI): The inaugural V4+India Foreign Ministers' Meeting held on the sidelines of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly marks a significant new mechanism in India-Europe ties, signalling the deepening and maturation of India's multidimensional partnership with Central Europe, Patryk Kugiel, Assistant Professor at the University of Warsaw, observed.
In an interview to ANI, Kugiel said the new subregional format adds a fresh layer to India's existing engagement with the region, complementing the Nordic+India platform and the broader EU-India partnership.
"This subregional level will add to existing Nordic+India platform and EU-Partnership. It will allow for better coordination, mapping of complementarities and initiation of regional initiatives," he said.
The meeting, held under the Slovak Presidency of the Visegrad Group (V4), brought together External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar with his counterparts from the four V4 nations -- Slovak Foreign and European Affairs Minister Juraj Blanar, Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski, Czech Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Petr Macinka, and Hungarian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Anita Orbán.
As per the Ministry of External Affairs, the ministers exchanged views on strengthening engagement between India and the Visegrad Group, acknowledging the strong bilateral relations already in place with each V4 member and the potential of the new format to add momentum to these ties. Discussions spanned trade and investment, technology and innovation, resilient supply chains, defence and security, connectivity, education, and people-to-people exchanges, along with prospects for deeper business, academic and research collaboration.
Kugiel noted that the four V4 countries have agreed to institutionalise the dialogue.
"They promised to hold a regular dialogue annually, deepen cooperation on connectivity -- how to bridge the Three Seas Initiative and Central Europe with IMEC and India -- energy, defence, cyber and trade," he said, adding that the V4 bloc, representing a market of over 63 million people, would need to act collectively to match India's scale. He pointed out that India is now only the second country after Japan to have a dedicated V4+ dialogue format, calling it further evidence of the "deepening and maturation" of ties between India and Central Europe.
On the support from all four V4 countries for India's bid for a permanent seat at the UN Security Council, Kugiel described it as an important show of unity. "This is important declaration securing the support of all V4 countries, which has not been so clear in the past," he said.
Kugiel characterised it as "an important win for India and some concession from Visegrad countries," arguing that in taking this step, the V4 nations had effectively acknowledged "the changed realities of the 21st century" and recognised the current composition of the Security Council as "unsustainable and unjust."
“One can read V4 declaration as important win for India and some concession from Visegrad countries. Yet, by doing this they accepted the changed realities of 21st century and recognized the current situation as unsustainable and unjust,” he told ANI.
When asked about EAM Jaishankar's meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha on the margins of UNGA, Kugiel placed it within the context of India's continuing balancing act between Russia and the West.
"It is positive diplomatic gesture but I do not expect much out of it," he said, adding that India has maintained a "low profile" on the war and is unlikely to take on a larger mediating role unless invited to do so by Moscow. He said the value of the meeting lay in keeping "communication channels open" and continuing to engage with India on Ukraine "until new opportunities arise."
His remarks come as India and the V4 countries held their high-level diplomatic engagement on the sidelines of the 81st UNGA.
The Ministry of External Affairs described the inaugural meeting as "an important step" in establishing India-V4 engagement at the foreign ministers' level, offering an additional platform for dialogue that builds on India's "longstanding and substantive" bilateral relations with each of the four countries. (ANI)
V4+India meeting demonstrates deepening, maturation of India-Central Europe multidimensional partnership: Expert
