New York: India and the four-member Visegrád Group (V4) of Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic have agreed to deepen political, economic, technology and defence cooperation at their first V4+India Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, held on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar announced that the five countries will hold annual foreign ministers’ meetings and establish an Annual Business Forum to institutionalise the new format.
Jaishankar described the meeting as a “new historic occasion” and said the countries would explore greater cooperation in technology and innovation, while strengthening their existing defence relationship. He noted that India has a strong defence history with all four V4 countries and said the objective would be to “refresh and take forward” that cooperation.
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The discussions also covered space, connectivity, education, research, cultural cooperation and people-to-people mobility. Jaishankar said the sides exchanged views on major international developments, including the Ukraine conflict and the situation in the Gulf.
In a post on X, Jaishankar said the first V4+India format had agreed on closer political cooperation, deeper economic engagement through the Annual Business Forum, stronger technology, innovation, research and education partnerships, reinvigorated defence cooperation and expanded cultural and people-to-people ties.
The meeting also produced a significant multilateral message. Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanár said all four V4 countries support India’s permanent membership of the UN Security Council, arguing that India should have a place as a permanent member. This was stated by Blanár following the meeting and represents the V4 countries’ publicly expressed position in support of India’s bid.
For India, the new V4+India mechanism provides another structured channel for engagement with Central Europe, particularly at a time when cooperation with the European Union is expanding. The focus on defence, advanced technology, innovation, connectivity and industrial engagement creates scope for the relationship to move beyond traditional diplomatic exchanges towards more sustained institutional cooperation.
The defence component is particularly relevant because the four V4 countries possess established industrial and technological capabilities, while India is seeking to expand defence-industrial partnerships, technology cooperation and international market access. The agreed annual mechanisms could provide a regular platform to explore cooperation in areas such as defence technology, manufacturing, research and innovation.
The first V4+India meeting therefore establishes a new multilateral engagement format linking India with four Central European states, with annual political and business-level mechanisms now planned alongside efforts to strengthen defence, technology and economic cooperation.
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