India and Greece grasp strategic partnerships for expansion of trade and welfare

India-Greece trade has surged in the last two years on the back of re-engineering of global supply chains and strategic efforts of the countries to find their fruitful trade partners. Considering the complementarities and strategic proximity between India and Greece; the trade trajectory between the two can expand manifold in the coming years. The recent visit of Greek Prime Minister, Mr. Kyriakos Mitsotakis to India has opened new avenues for the trade expansion and humanitarian development. New initiatives for defence cooperation along with migration and mobility pact have potential to double the bilateral trade in the next 5-6 years.

India and Greece have strategic proximity in the realm of global supply chains. Both have advantages to enhance penetration in the large Indian and European Markets and opportunities to strengthen the supply chains between Europe and India. The post-pandemic years have witnessed strong resilience of supply chains, leading to a significant increase in bilateral trade between India and Greece. The trade between the two nations has grown from USD 569 million in FY 2020 to USD 1944 million in FY 2023 marking an increase of approximately 3.5 times. India's exports to Greece surged from USD 445 million in FY 2020 to USD 786 million in FY 2023 and imports from Greece experienced a substantial increase from USD 124 million in FY2020 to USD 1158 million in FY 2023. Going ahead, trade trajectory is expected to double to the level of USD 4000 million by 2029-30.

There are significant complementarities in trade between the two countries; India exports primary, semi-finished, and finished goods, and importing mainly primary products, especially energy commodities like mineral fuels and related products.

The major items of exports from India to Greece are aluminium and articles thereof, organic chemicals, electrical machinery and equipment and parts thereof, fish and crustaceans, iron and steel, articles of apparel and clothing accessories, plastic and articles thereof, paper and paperboard;, other made up textile articles, and coffee, tea, mate and spices.

India’s major items of imports from Greece are mineral fuels, mineral oils and products, aluminium and articles thereof, pulp of wood or of other fibrous cellulosic material, edible fruit and nuts, iron and steel, copper and articles thereof, salt, miscellaneous chemical products, cotton, organic chemicals.

Numerous Greek companies, with various Greek conglomerates are expressing interest in engaging in various business activities in India including exporting olive oil, olives, wine, cheese, fruits, fruit juice, consumer goods, construction materials, and aluminium products to India.

In the same line, significant investments in Greece have been made by several Indian conglomerates and these investments serve as a catalyst for the further growth of India- Greece bilateral trade relations. The expanding economic cooperation between the two countries is expected to play a pivotal role in driving the significant gains from trade and welfare for each other emanated from defence production cooperation, migration and mobility pact, among others.

During the recent visit of Greek Prime Minister, Mr. Kyriakos Mitsotakis to India, both the countries agreed for enhanced bilateral cooperation in many promising areas such as pharmaceuticals, medical devices, technology, innovation, skill development and space. India’s skilled labour will be benefitted with its easier movement to Greece as both the nations have agreed to quickly finalise the proposed migration and mobility pact. Indian workers will have opportunities in the farm, manufacturing and construction sectors.

In his remarks about India, Greek PM Mr. Kyriakos Mitsotakis during his visit said

“Today, India is a great power on the world stage and an important ally in pursuit of peace and security — a rising force at the heart of G20 and a leading player in the fight against climate change”

Both the countries have emphasised to promote cooperation between higher education institutions, to set up a working group for defence, linking the defence industries of both countries, mutual coordination on common challenges like defence, cyber security, counter-terrorism, and maritime security. Greece has opportunities to become an important component of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) launched during India’s G20 Presidency. This will further enhance supply chains between India, Middle East and Europe and enhance the production possibilities and trade expansion between many countries in these regions.

In conclusions, both the countries are keen to boost their nascent strategic partnership; both have many common concerns and priorities. The new initiatives such as migration and mobility pact, defence co-production and co-development will give a modern shape to India–Greece bilateral relations to enter new orbit of opportunities. The strong cooperation and complementarities between the two will have boost to production processes and employment creation. The future holds a promising outlook for the expansion of trade trajectory, as the strengthening of supply chains and enhanced cooperation in many areas is set to propel growth of bilateral trade between the two countries.