India and Portugal Sign 11 Pacts

India and Portugal have signed 11 pacts after in-depth talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Portuguese counterpart Antonio Costa in areas like counter-terrorism, space and climate studies. This is the first-ever bilateral visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Portugal.
India thanked Portugal for its support for India’s permanent membership of UNSC, and of Multilateral Export Control Regime.

Agreements

India and Portugal have agreed to set up a joint Science and Technology fund of four million euros. The two countries also signed MoUs for the creation of an India Portugal Space Alliance for advancing collaborative research. This agreement is expected to promote India’s science and technology partnership with Portugal and to set up Atlantic International Research Centre on the Azores Archipelago. This Centre will act as a research, innovation and knowledge hub for tratrans-Atlantic and north-south cooperation. The objective behind the Centre is to provide a shared environment for supporting new climate, earth, space and marine research.
Other Agreements 
The other agreements cover cooperation in outer space, double taxation avoidance, nano technology, improving cultural ties, youth and sports, higher education and scientific research, and Portugal-India business hub and Indian Chamber of Commerce. They are:

• Protocol amending the Double Taxation Aviodance Agreement
• MoU on Nano Technology
• MoU on Public Administration & Governance Reforms
• MoU on Cultural Cooperation
• MoU on Youth & Sports
• MoU between Portugal India Business Hub & Indian Chamber of Commerce
• MoU on Cooperation in the fields of Higher Education and Scientific Research
• MoU on Biotechnology
• MoU on Collaborative Research
• MoU between Portugal India Business Hub & AICEP

Month: Current Affairs - June, 2017