Amid New Delhi’s deepening ties with the European Union, India and the four Visegrad Group (V4) countries — Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic — have agreed to deepen cooperation in political, economic, technological, and defence and people-to-people ties, according to Foreign Minister S Jaishankar.

The group has also backed India’s call for a permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

The move followed Jaishankar’s first meeting with the leaders of the V4 group on the margins of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly.

What Jaishankar Said

“It was, in a sense, a new historic occasion,” Jaishankar said in remarks after the meeting, where he was joined by Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Radek Sikorski, Hungary’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Anita Orban, Slovak Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Juraj Blanar, and Czech Foreign Minister Petr Macinka.

“It was a very, very productive meeting. What we agreed was that since India’s relationship with the European Union itself is deepening, with the V4 we would take some special initiatives to create an annual business forum,” he said, adding that there was “consensus” that the foreign ministers of the five nations in the group would meet annually.

Jaishankar said the group, along with India, would also work together in the fields of technology and innovation, space, connectivity, and people-to-people mobility. He stressed that India has “very good” relations with the V4 countries.

“We have a very strong history with all the V4 countries in defence. We want to refresh and take forward that record and that cooperation,” he said.

According to the minister, the meeting was “very worthwhile” and “very productive”, with discussions focusing on cooperation as well as major global crises, including the Ukraine conflict and developments in the Gulf.

“It was really a very, very worthwhile, very productive meeting. I’m very pleased about it,” he said in remarks to reporters after the meeting.

In a post on X, Jaishankar said the first meeting in the V4+India format agreed to closer political cooperation, including annual meetings of foreign ministers, and deeper economic cooperation, including the Annual Business Forum.

The countries also agreed to strengthen technology, innovation, research and education partnerships; reinvigorate defence cooperation; further develop cultural cooperation and people-to-people relations and work together to support multilateralism, he said.

“These are countries with a very strong, very distinctive capability. These are industrial economies, economies with great innovation and technology talent, and I think how the V4 come together is for them to decide. But we certainly welcome the opportunity to work with the V4 together,” he told reporters.