Round The World
New Delhi, 12 April
2024
India-Greece Relations
BILATERALISM Vs MULTILATERALISM
By Prof. (Dr.) D.K. Giri
(Secretary General, Assn for
Democratic Socialism)
India-Greece
bilateralism received a new impetus in an international seminar, organised at
Jawaharlal Nehru University early this week. The seminar was devoted to
discussing various dimensions of India-Greece relations – history, tourism,
culture, geo-politics, diplomacy, trade etc. In my presentation, while
commending the initiative of augmenting bilateral relations, I raised the issue
of the artificial dichotomy between bilateralism and multilateralism and the
need to balance it.
Pointedly, I referred
to the European Union (EU) as a multilateral regional organisation which is by
far the best example of regional integration. Yet, EU so far has failed in
projecting its political personality to the world. The EU was created not only
as an economic union, but a political player in promoting pluralism, democracy,
human rights etc., the values the EU member countries dearly seek to adhere to.
But there has certainly been a mismatch between these values and the trade
policy they adopted. In particular, EU trade with China has been booming
although the latter is universally considered to be an autocracy and a
consistent violator of human rights.
Likewise, the other
multilateral bodies have failed in their objectives. The biggest of them all,
the United Nations, which was created after the horrendous Second World War, to
prevent the recurrence of wars, becomes a helpless onlooker as the wars in
Ukraine and Gaza rage unabated. The UN certainly has unequal structures, namely
the Security Council which is immobilised by the pernicious Veto exercised at
will by any of the Permanent Five. The reform of structures and functions of
United Nations is another debate we will not engage here.
The point to note is
if multilateralism is being infructuous, it is advisable to focus on
bilateralism. At any rate, while multilateralism in a globalised and an
inter-dependent world should be aspired for, bilateralism lays out the building
blocks. What has been happening is that the quest for multilateralism has downplayed
bilateralism. It is, using the popular metaphor, missing the trees for the
forest. The India-Greece bilateral efforts should correct the fault line in
contemporary geo-politics.
On India-Greece relations,
Amrit Lugun, who served as Indian Ambassador to Greece, narrated the
developments between the two countries from during his time and till today. He informed
that the long historical link between two countries is reflected in a Greek
psyche even today. The former Lt. General, Philip Campose, a strategic expert,
made a meticulous presentation of contours of bilateralism.
The bilateral
relations got a shot in the arm in August 2023 when Prime Minister Narendra
Modi visited Greece. He was doing so after 40 years of visit by an Indian Head
of Government to Greece. Also, significantly, the bilateral cooperation was
elevated to a strategic partnership during this visit. Campose attributes this
sudden shift to strategic partnership to a response to the growing trilateral
relationship between Pakistan, Azerbaijan and Turkey. The strategic partnership
is a logical extension to the said response as Greece has stood firmly with
India on the Kashmir issue and encountering Pakistan-sponsored terrorism.
The second push to
India-Greece relations came from the visit of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos
Mitsotakis early this year as the Chief Guest on the Republic Day parade as
well as the keynote speaker in the Raisina Dialogue. He made a strong case for
deepening India-Greece relations. He said, “India could not find a better
gateway than Greece to Europe and Greece will have no better gateway to Asia
than through India”. He asked for working on IMEC project – India-Middle
East-Europe Corridor despite the war in Gaza. The Greek PM’s attitude and
statements pointed certainly to the acceleration of relations between India and
Greece.
Building India-Greece
relations should certainly invoke the rich legacy of history involving both
countries. It goes back to 326 BC when Alexander invaded India. The historical
anecdotes suggest that Alexander, a great fighter, had to retreat in the
North-West of India when an Indian king paraded the elephants on the
battlefield. The legend has it that an Indian king from Punjab offered his
daughter in marriage to Alexander to buy peace. That sets a matrimonial
relation between Greece and India. Likewise, many Greeks came to India as
soldiers or traders and settled down forever in this country.
There is evidence of
Greek art and architecture in Indian society and civilisation. In India and
ancient Greece, there were similar allegories and analogies, particularly in
Plato’s Phaedrus and the Katha Upanishad. The image of the
chariot in Phaedrus portraited the structure of an individual’s soul whereas in
Katha Upanishad, it is used in order to describe an individual’s
structure. There were also maritime trade contracts of Graeco Roman world with
South India. The Greek Indologist Dimitrios Galanos lived in India for 47 years
and breathed his last in 1833 in Banaras. He translated Indian Vedic texts into
Greek language and produced a Sanskrit-English-Greek dictionary of 9000 words.
Currently, India and
Greece need each other in their mutual interests. Greece is a high-income
economy and India is a growing economy with a huge workforce and potentially
the largest market in the world. The bilateral trade is low at the moment but
has the potential of growing manifold. Greece is a member of European Union and
NATO, two powerful bodies, economically and militarily, while India is the most
populous country in the world and spearheading the Global South. India would
need Greece to counter China’s influence in the Mediterranean region, for
access to her port and shipping industry and a market, both Greece and EU for
its exports.
Likewise, Greece would
need India for its tourism sector, expertise of Indian companies, investment in
privatisation of public assets and a market for goods produced in Greece. The
future road map for bilateral relations should consist of cooperation on
defence and security issues, connectivity between two countries, cooperation in
ecological security, skilled manpower migration, joint trainings by army, navy,
air force and special forces and developing inter-operability and cooperation
in key areas of special interest to both countries.
That said, the elephant
in the room is, as usual, China. One of the Greek participants asked for
India’s reaction to China having a port in Greece, Port of Piraeus, as India is
also in the process of acquiring a port. The answer to that question is, it is
for Greece to decide whether it would open its strategic space to an autocrat
like China “posing a systemic threat to the world” (Germany’s stated view). The
West – America and the European Union - have created China almost like a
Frankenstein. It is time they decide whether they should neutralise the
Frankenstein or feed it to become stronger. India will inevitably counter
China, Greece and the European Union have to decide whether they will correct
the mistakes of the past or continue with it in regard to dealing with
China.---INFA
(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)
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