New Delhi [India], September 7 (ANI): External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday lauded the robust partnership between India and Luxembourg, describing their engagement as a 'very trusted relationship' with substantial potential for supply chain resilience and economic diversification.

Welcoming Luxembourg's Deputy Prime Minister Xavier Bettel to New Delhi, EAM Jaishankar noted that the visit underscores the deepening bilateral ties between the two nations. He also expressed gratitude for Luxembourg's backing of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India and the European Union (EU).

'In an era where Foreign Ministers generally worry about uncertainties and what is going wrong with the world, I think ours is a very trusted relationship. It is a relationship where we have done a lot, where we have the confidence of being able to do even more, particularly in terms of supply chain resilience, in terms of diversification, and with Europe, now with Free Trade Agreement ratification, likely in the coming future, I think there are really new horizons which are opening up,' Jaishankar stated during the meeting.

'I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for Luxembourg's very strong support for the FTA. The fact that we were able to get it over the finishing line and now that we are moving towards its entry into force,' he added.

Looking back at his own diplomatic engagement earlier in the year, the Minister remarked, 'I myself was in Luxembourg as your guest at the beginning of this year; I still have very warm memories of that visit. But I am really very pleased today that we have an opportunity to take our discussions forward.'

Highlighting frequent high-level interactions over recent years, Jaishankar pointed out that both governments are actively expanding cooperation into advanced sectors such as space exploration, digital infrastructure, and green technologies.

'In recent years, of course, our leaders have been in very close touch; you yourself had co-chaired a virtual summit with our Prime Minister in 2020, and your Prime Minister did one in 2021, and in terms of our relationship, trade, investment, financial cooperation, that's at the heart of it. But beyond that, we are looking at space, digital, green technologies. We are interested in health; during COVID, we actually had a very, very important collaboration, which I am glad to see has grown even more,' he said. (ANI)