Jaishankar thanks Luxembourg for support on India-EU FTA, hails ‘very trusted relationship’

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Monday hailed India’s “very trusted relationship” with Luxembourg and thanked Deputy Prime Minister Xavier Bettel for Luxembourg’s strong support for the India-EU FTA, while highlighting opportunities for cooperation in supply chains, space, digital technology and health

New Delhi: Hailing ties between India and Luxembourg, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said on Monday that the two nations have a “very trusted relationship” and expressed confidence that both can do more in terms of supply chain resilience and diversification.

In his opening remarks during his meeting with Luxembourg Deputy Prime Minister Xavier Bettel here, EAM Jaishankar extended a warm welcome to the visiting leader and said his visit to India reflects the growing and deepening partnership between the two nations. He thanked Bettel for Luxembourg’s support for the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India and the European Union (EU).

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“In an era where Foreign Ministers generally worry about uncertainties and what is going wrong with the world, I think ours is a very trusted relationship. It is a relationship where we have done a lot, where we have the confidence in being able to do even more, particularly in terms of supply chain resilience, in terms of diversification, and with Europe, now with Free Trade Agreement ratification, likely in the coming future, I think there are really new horizons which are opening up.”

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for Luxembourg’s very strong support for the FTA. The fact that we were able to get it over the finishing line and now that we are moving towards its entry into force,” he added.

Recalling his visit to Luxembourg, EAM Jaishankar said: “I myself was in Luxembourg as your guest at the beginning of this year; I still have very warm memories of that visit. But I am really very pleased today that we have an opportunity to take our discussions forward.”

Noting that the leaders of India and Luxembourg have remained in close touch in recent years, he said both countries have been looking at cooperating with each other in the space, digital and green technology sectors.

“In recent years, of course, our leaders have been in very close touch; you yourself had co-chaired a virtual summit with our Prime Minister in 2020, and your Prime Minister did one in 2021, and in terms of our relationship, trade, investment, financial cooperation, that’s at the heart of it. But beyond that, we are looking at space, digital, green technologies. We are interested in health; during COVID, we actually had a very, very important collaboration which I am glad to see has grown even more.”