India and Greece on Monday issued a joint declaration to strengthen defence industrial cooperation, while the European nation announced it will post a military officer at the India-led international maritime information centre in Gurugram.
The announcements were made after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held a bilateral meeting with Greece’s Minister of National Defence, Nikolaos-Georgios Dendias, in New Delhi. Both ministers reiterated that the India-Greece strategic partnership was based on shared values of peace, stability, freedom and mutual respect, the Ministry of Defence said.
Notably, Greece would be the third country in Türkiye’s “backyard” with which India has ramped up military ties over the past couple of years. After Cyprus, Greece is the second country on the eastern side of the Mediterranean Sea with which New Delhi has strengthened defence cooperation. To the east of Türkiye, India has also developed close relations with Armenia, including the supply of military equipment.
Both Greece and Cyprus are locked in separate, long-pending boundary disputes with Türkiye. India and Israel, both strategic partners, currently have strained ties with Ankara, which has aligned itself closely with Pakistan and even supplied weapons used by Islamabad during Operation Sindoor in May last year.
India and Greece also decided to expand the capacity of their respective indigenous defence industries through closer partnership between India’s self-reliance initiatives and Greece’s defence reforms under its ‘Agenda 2030’.
A joint declaration of intent on strengthening defence industrial cooperation was signed, marking the beginning of a five-year roadmap for collaboration.
The Greek side announced the posting of a Greek International Liaison Officer at the Information Fusion Centre-Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) in Gurugram. Led by the Indian Navy, the centre already hosts liaison officers from countries such as the UK, the US and Japan.
A bilateral military cooperation plan for 2026 was also exchanged, outlining the course of engagements between the armed forces of both countries.
Earlier, the Hellenic delegation visited key defence and industrial establishments in Bengaluru and interacted with defence public sector undertakings, industry representatives and startups in New Delhi.
Sources said the deepening India-Greece relationship appears to be a direct response to Ankara’s growing influence in both South Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean — a region encompassing countries such as Türkiye, Greece, Syria, Lebanon and Israel.
India has also stepped up ties with Cyprus in recent years. During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the island nation in June 2025, the two countries formalised a “strategic partnership” in key areas including cybersecurity, maritime security and defence industry collaboration.
Prior to the meeting, the Greek Defence Minister laid a wreath at the National War Memorial and inspected the Tri-service Guard of Honour at the Manekshaw Centre.