Annual Report 2011 - 2012

Additionally, there were several Ministerial and Secretarylevel
exchanges with these countries. Meetings of Joint
Economic Commissions, exchanges of business delegations
and mutual participation in business fairs and exhibitions
promoted the steady growth of commercial and economic
ties with the region. The EU, comprising 27 countries,
continued to be India's largest trade partner and the largest
source of FDI during the year.
The sovereign and banking sector debt crisis continues to
be a major issue within the European Union, particularly
the Eurozone, and EU leaders have adopted far-reaching
measures to contain the crisis. India, as part of the G-20
and BRICS, has committed to ensure that the International
Monetary Fund has adequate resources to meet potential
financing needs of all its members.
Indian Missions in the region organised a number of
activities to project the richness and diversity Indian culture.
In particular, many programmes were arranged to
commemorate the 150th Birth Anniversary of
Rabindranath Tagore.
Central Europe
India's friendly relations with the countries of Central and
Eastern Europe as well as the Nordic countries continued
to deepen and diversify. There is a history of interest in
India and Indology in many of these countries, which has
created strong people-to-people affinities. This strong
foundation has been reinforced by shared values of
democracy, rule of law and free market economy, resulting
in good mutual understanding on most political issues,
bilaterally as well multilaterally. The recognition of India
as one of the world's fastest growing economies, which offers
manifold opportunities of an expanding market as well as
an attractive destination-cum-source of investment, has led
to a focus on the economic dimension of bilateral ties
among the countries in this region.
In a sign of the growing engagement between India and
the Baltic countries, Estonia decided to establish a resident
mission in India in the first quarter of 2012, making it the
second Baltic State to do so after Lithuania.
Broad-based engagement, which reinforces existing bonds,
with regular political, cultural and scientific exchanges
while strengthening and diversifying economic cooperation
through exploring synergies and complementarities,
continue to be India's policy towards the region.
Important outgoing bilateral visits to the Central European
region, during the year included the visits of the President
to Austria (4-7 October), and Switzerland (30 September -
xiii
Introduction and Synopsis
4 October), and of the Vice President to Turkey (10-15
October). Further, the External Affairs Minister, who
visited Hungary (from 5-7 June, 2011) and Turkey (10-14
May and 2 November), and Minister of State for External
Affairs, who visited Lithuania (30 June-2 July) and Serbia
(5-6 September) for multilateral conferences, had bilateral
meetings with high-level dignitaries on the sidelines of these
events. The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Smt
Preneet Kaur, also visited Latvia (31 March- 2 April) as part
of her tour of the three Baltic States.
Noteworthy incoming visits were the State visit of the Prime
Minister of Slovenia (6-8 September, 2011 and the visit of
the President of the Czech Senate (8-13 May) at the
invitation of the Vice President. Further, the President of
Finland visited India during the period 1-3 February, 2012,
to participate in the Delhi Sustainable Development
Summit (DSDS), and had a bilateral meeting with the
Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh. The visits of the
Foreign Ministers of Cyprus (17-19 April), Iceland (25 April-
3 May 2011), Poland (11-12 July, 2012) and Sweden (18-22
October, 2011) helped maintain high-level dialogue with
these countries. Besides, many other Ministerial visits were
exchanged with the Central European countries.
Regular dialogue between the Foreign Ministries of these
countries, and the Ministry of External Affairs was
maintained. Foreign Office consultations were held with
Bosnia & Herzegovina (5 April, 2011), Croatia (6 May,
2011), Lithuania (19 May, 2011), the Czech Republic (6
June, 2011) and Hungary (23 January, 2012).
Apart from frequent high-level exchanges between
Governments, the year also witnessed active Parliamentary
exchanges, which imparted special vigour to the
relationship with these democracies, promoting active
interaction between their elected representatives.
During the year agreements that were concluded or are
under negotiations in diverse areas with many of these
countries related to defence, culture, infrastructure
(including the railway network), investment, double
taxation avoidance, financial dialogue, health, science and
technology, cooperation in the use of nuclear energy for
peaceful purposes, standardisation and education. Further,
in view of the steady flow of Indian professionals to this
region, agreements on social security and labour mobility
partnerships have been concluded or are being pursued.
Most countries in the region expressed support for a
permanent seat for India in an expanded and reformed
UN Security Council, and many formally supported the
G-4 Resolution on this matter. They also supported a