India, Austria to sign 5 agreements today

Vienna [Austria], January 2 (ANI): India and Austria will sign five agreements on Monday and two of them are in the interest of the Indian community staying in the latter country, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said.

While recalling India's Ambassador to Austria Jaideep Mazumdar's statement, Jaishankar in an interaction with the Indian diaspora on Sunday (local time) said, "I think two of them would be in the interest of the Indian community. One is an agreement on 'migration and mobility'... which will try to make it easier for people who want to work here (Austria) and who want to come here for business, or who come here as students and professionals."

He further said that the second one is on the 'Working Holiday' program that will enable Indian students in Austria to work for 6 months.

Earlier, Mazumdar said, "Tomorrow, there will be delegation-level talks with EAM's counterpart when 5 important agreements with far-reaching impact on our bilateral relations are expected to sign."

While addressing the Indian diaspora, Jaishankar said, "After seeing the Covid situation and knock-on effects of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, we realized that unless we become more self-reliant and manufacture more things in India, and unless core requirements of India are met within India, we'll remain vulnerable to outside pressures."

"This is a very challenging time for the world as the world is under great economic stress, supply chain stress, and there's very strong political polarization. A lot of diplomacies is required to even get all the major countries to sit around the table," he added.

Talking about G20, EAM said that India wanted to use the presidency for benefit of the international community and can be a voice of fairness, and justice. He also said that India wanted to emerge as the voice of societies and countries that do not have anybody to speak for them, on matters related to energy access and food security.

Jaishankar, during the interaction, also raised concerns about the Russia-Ukraine conflict and issues with China and Pakistan.

Jaishankar is on an official visit to Austria where he held a meeting with Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg. He tweeted, "Delighted to see my good friend Alexander Schallenberg in Vienna. My first diplomatic engagement was in 2023. Thank him for inviting us to join the traditional New Year's concert in Vienna."

In the press release, the Ministry of External Affairs noted, "This will be the first EAM-level visit from India to Austria in the last 27 years, and takes place against the backdrop of 75 years of diplomatic relations in 2023." (ANI)