COOPERATION AGREEMENT BETWEEN INDIA AND PORTUGAL

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa signed 7 agreements on February 14th, 2020, after detailed high level talks in areas including maritime transport, port development, audio-visual co-production and industrial and intellectual property rights. The Portuguese president’s four-day visit in New Delhi on February 13th,2020 was marked by a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhawan. He also visited Rajghat and paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi.  He was accompanied by Secretary of State for National Defence Jorge Seguro Sanches, Minister of State and Foreign Affairs Professor Augusto Santos Silva and Secretary of State for Internationalization Professor Eurico Brilhante Dias. 

HISTORY OF INDIA-PORTUGAL RELATIONSHIP

India’s independence was established in 1947 post which relations between India and Portugal became amicable. India’s sovereignty over Goa, Daman & Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli was recognised when India and Portugal signed a treaty on December 31st 1947 establishing diplomatic relations and an era of friendly bilateralism. However Indo-Portuguese relations date back to more than 500 years when Vasco da Gama, a Portuguese explorer reached Calicut in 1498. In 1502 AD, the Portuguese colonial era began with the establishment of European Trading Centre at Kollam, Kerala. in 1510 AD, Goa, which subsequently became the capital of the Portuguese Empire in the Orient, stretching from Malacca in the east to the African possessions in contemporary Mozambique in the west.

PRESENT RELATIONS 

India is consistently supported by Portugal at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) including for a permanent seat. In October 2005, Portugal extradited Abu Salem and Monica Bedi to India, becoming the first European Union country to extradite a person facing heinous charges in India. On October 9, 2015, Portugal became the first European and western country, and only the fourth one outside the East Asia Summit, to sign an MoU on the establishment of the Nalanda University in India. The decision to hold summit level meetings between India and the European Union was taken by the EU at the urging of the second Portuguese Presidency of the EU in 2000, during which the first India-EU Summit was held in Lisbon at the time of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s visit to the city.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on June 24th, 2017 visited Portugal and 11 MOU’s were signed in the areas of space, double taxation, nano-technology, bio-technology, culture, youth and sports, public administration and higher education. The bilateral trade relations between the 2 countries has consistently remained balanced. Portugal ranks 55thin Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into India with total FDI inflows amounting to US$ 42.62 million (as of 31 March 2016). Further, plenty of investments and participation has been made in defence and aerospace, science and technology, education and e-governance, consular affairs and culture, tourism and sports. 

DETAILS ABOUT THE SEVEN AGREEMENTS (MOU’s)
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1.Memorandum of Understanding

2.Memorandum of Understanding for Cooperation for Setting Up a National Maritime Museum Heritage Complex in Lothal (Gujarat) between Portuguese Ministry of Defence and Indian Ministry of Shipping.

3.MOU between Economic and Food Safety Authority (ASAE) and DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce or co-operation in the field of industrial and intellectual property rights.

4.Agreement on Audio-Visual Co-production between India and Portugal

5.MoU between Portuguese Diplomatic Institute and Foreign Service Institute for training.

6.Co-operation Agreement on Maritime Transport and Port Development between India and Portugal.

7.Joint Declaration on India and Portugal Mobility Partnership

8.MOU between Invest India and Start-Up Portugal

LIST OF AGREEMENTS

1. MOU between Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) and Institute of Social and Political Sciences of the University of Lisbon for co-operation in strategic and security areas
2. MoU between We-Hub Telangana and PARKURBIS Covilha for Exchange of Women Start-up Entrepreneurs
3. MOU between The National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (CSIR-NIIST), Thiruvananthapuram and Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), Portugal, for collaboration in higher sciences
4. MOU between TERI-DEAKIN Centre, Gurugram and International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL) Braga for co-operation in Nano-biotechnology
5. MOU between Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. and CEiiA in aeronautics.
6. MOU between VEDA Defence and UA Vision for production of drones
7. MOU between VYASA, Bangalore and Portuguese Yoga Confederation for collaboration in a Scientific Validation project on the benefits of Yoga for Portuguese schoolchildren. 

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