Estonian, Indian foreign ministries hold political consultations

  • 2021-11-25
  • BNS/TBT Staff

TALLINN – The 11th political consultations between the Estonian and Indian ministries of foreign affairs took place in Tallinn on Thursday.

The Estonian delegation was led by Rein Tammsaar, deputy secretary general for political affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Indian delegation by Reenat Sandhu, undersecretary for Central and Western Europe and multilateral diplomacy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of India, spokespeople for the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

At the consultations, Estonian-Indian relations, major foreign policy issues and regional developments were discussed.

"Relations between Estonia and India are good and warm. I dare say that there has been a leap in development in our bilateral relations of late," Tammsaar said.

"Of course, both sides have made an equal contribution to this, but I would like to single out the targeted work of the Estonian embassy in New Delhi. Thanks to the outstanding efforts of the previous Estonian ambassador, Viljar Lubi, and especially the current ambassador, Katrin Kivi, in brokering political, economic and technological contacts and promoting cooperation, we have come so far that India appointed its ambassador, Ajaneesh Kumar, to Estonia at the end of 2020 and announced plans to open an embassy in Tallinn, the imminent opening of which we are now looking forward to," Tammsaar said.

Estonia opened its embassy in New Delhi in 2013. A significant breakthrough in relations between Estonia and India was the visit by India's Vice-President Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu to Estonia in August 2019.

Tammsaar also expressed hope that the consultations will have a positive impact on the dynamics of bilateral relations and that a number of important economic and technological projects will be promoted. As an example of cooperation, Tammsaar highlighted the investment by Reliance Industries in the Jio Research Center in Estonia, which deals with e-government solutions.

Dec. 2 marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Estonia and India. Regular political consultations of the foreign ministries take place alternately in Tallinn and New Delhi. Previous consultations took place on Feb. 7, 2019 in New Delhi.