MoS Meenakashi Lekhi to visit Croatia, Slovenia from April 15-20

In Croatia, MoS will hold discussions with the Foreign Minister of Croatia, Gordan Grlic-Radman, Culture and Media Minister Nina Obuljen, State Secretary for Political Affairs, Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, read the Ministry of External Affairs press release.

Earlier in March, the Foreign Minister of Croatia Gordan Grlic Radman visited India to attend the eighth edition of Raisina Dialogue.

Lekhi will meet a cross-section of the Indian community and friends of India and join a special Yoga session. She will also interact with the faculty at the University of Zagreb which has exchange programmes with various Indian universities, added the release.

Croatian people have a deep interest in India. The Indology department at the University of Zagreb has existed for over six decades and an Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) Hindi chair was set up there a decade ago.

Croatia is an important Central European country from the point of view of its geo-strategic location, membership of the European Union and NATO, as well as being a significant Gateway to Europe through the Adriatic coastline.

Relations between India and Croatia have been friendly since the days of the former Yugoslavia.

The Breakup of Yugoslavia occurred as a result of a series of political upheavals and conflicts during the early 1990s.

Disintegration gave birth to six new countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia.

In Slovenia, MoS will call on the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Tanja Fajon and meet the Deputy Foreign Minister. MoS will also interact with the Indian community and participate in an AKAM event at the University of Ljubljana.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in the press release noted, "India has close and friendly ties with Croatia and Slovenia. The visit will further reinforce the momentum in India's relations with these countries."

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met Slovenia's Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon on the sidelines of the Raisina Dialogue. Taking to his official Twitter handle, Jaishankar noted that they discussed taking forward the relationship between India and Slovenia.

Jaishankar tweeted, "A cordial first meeting with FM @tfajon of Slovenia this evening. Value our ties, bilaterally and in the India-EU format. Discussed taking forward our relationship, especially in the economic and technological domain. Also discussed global developments."

The Republic of Slovenia attained independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. And, India recognized the independent state of Slovenia in 1992 and supported its candidature for the membership at the UN.

Since then both the nations share cordial bilateral relations. India sought for Slovenia's support in its bid to get permanent membership at the UN Security Council and the membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group.

The future cooperation possibilities between the two countries lie in the fields of high technology (especially clean technology), robotics and artificial intelligence, start-ups and innovation sectors. (ANI)