Greece–India relations
 |
|
 Greece |
 India |
|---|---|
Greece-Indian relations are the relations between Greece and India. Greece has an embassy in New Delhi and three honorary consulates in Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai. India has an embassy in Athens.
According to a 2013 BBC World Service Poll, only 18% of Greeks view India's influence positively, with 36% expressing a negative view.[1]
Historical relations
Ancient Time
For the Greeks "India" meant only the upper Indus till the time of Alexander the Great. After "India" meant to the Greeks most of the northern half of the Indian subcontinent.
Ctesias in his work Indika (Greek: Ινδικά), records the beliefs and view of the Persians about India.
Alexander the Great and his army fought the Indian army of King Porus at the Indian campaign of Alexander the Great.
Part of today's India became the Indo-Greek kingdoms founded by the successor of Alexander the Great.
The Greek ethnographer and explorer of the Hellenistic period, Megasthenes was the ambassador of Seleucus I at India. In his work, Indika (Greek: Ινδικά), he wrote the history of Indians and their culture. Megasthenes also mentions about the prehistoric arrival of Dionysus and Hercules (Megasthenes' Herakles) in India.
Dionysius was also a Greek ambassador at India, sent by Ptolemy Philadelphus.
The Heliodorus pillar is a stone column that was erected around 110 BCE in present-day central India in Vidisha near modern Besnagar, by Heliodorus, a Greek ambassador of the Indo-Greek king Antialcidas to the court of the Sunga king Bhagabhadra. The site is located only 5 miles from the Buddhist stupa of Sanchi.
The Greek historian Apollodorus and the Roman historian Justin, affirm that the Bactrian Greeks conquered India. Justin, also describe Demetrius I as "King of the Indians". Greek and Indian sources indicate that the Greeks campaigned as far as Pataliputra until they were forced to retreat following a coup in Bactria in 170 BC.
The Greek sophist Philostratus, in his work Life of Apollonius, mention that the Greek philosopher Apollonius have travelled to India.
The King Phraotes received a Greek education at the court of his father and spoke Greek fluently.[2]
18th-19th century
Dimitrios Galanos (Greek: Δημήτριος Γαλανός, 1760–1833) was the earliest recorded Greek Indologist. His translations of Sanskrit texts into Greek made knowledge of the philosophical and religious ideas of India available to many Europeans. A "Dimitrios Galanos" Chair for Hellenic Studies was established at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, India in September 2000.
Modern Time
Relations between Greece and India started in May 1950. The new Greek Embassy building in New Delhi was inaugurated on 6 February 2006.
The graves of Indians who died in Greece during the two World Wars are located in the memorial grounds of the cemeteries of the Allied Forces in Athens and Thessaloniki.
Thessaloniki was twinned with Kolkata at January 2005.
About 12,000-13,000 Indian people live at Greece.
List of recent bilateral visites
- In December 2000, Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou visited India.
- In February 2001, Prime Minister of Greece Kostas Simitis visited India.
- In September 2006, Speaker of the Lok Sabha Somnath Chatterjee visited Greece.
- In April 2007, President of India Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam made an unofficial visit to Athens.
List of bilateral treaties
- Agreement on Cultural Exchange, 1961
- Agreement on Avoidance of Double Taxation, 1967
- Agreement for Joint Commission for Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation, 1983.
- Joint Business Council of FICCI and ASSOCHAM and the Athens Chamber of Commerce, 1996.
- Agreement of Cooperation between Hellenic Foreign Trade Board and India *Trade Promotion Organisation, 1996.
- Agreement on Tourism Cooperation, 1998.
- MOU on Defence Cooperation, 1998.
- MOU for Cooperation in Agriculture, 2001.
- Agreement on Promotion and Reciprocal Protection of Investments (BIPA), 2007.
- Agreement on Cooperation in Science & Technology, 2007.
- MOU between CII and Federation of Greek Industries, 2007.
- MOU for Cooperation between Institute of Science, Bangalore and *National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), 2007
See also
References
External Links & References
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
