LOC18:42
15:42 GMT
Participants in the Arab-Indian Cooperation Forum meeting hosted by New Delhi
NEW DELHI, Jan 31 (KUNA) -- Indian Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar said on Saturday that India and Arab countries have strong relationships and partnerships.
"India has strong partnerships with all League of Arab States and in many cases, maturing to a strategic level. Much of that is rooted in history, where we have long exchanged goods, people and ideas," he said while delivering his inagural speech at the 2nd India-Arab Foreign Ministers Meeting in New Delhi.
The Indian minister added that the historic collaboration has taken different forms with various partners.
"The region has some of our largest expatriate communities, key energy sources, major trade relationships and increasingly, emerging technology and connectivity initiatives," he said, pointing out the mutual dependence in food security and health security.
"The India-Arab Cooperation Forum serves as a platform to give our positive sentiments a practical shape. Our meeting will examine an agenda for such cooperation in 2026-28," he said.
It currently covers energy, environment, agriculture, tourism, human resource development, culture and education, amongst others, Jaishankar said.
He also expressed India's ambition to expand the cooperation to contemporary dimensions of cooperation being included, such as digital, space, start-ups, innovation, etc. (pickup previous)
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