Strengthening partnership with India should be cornerstone of Europe's foreign policy: Greek PM

New Delhi, Feb 21 (PTI) India is an important ally in pursuit of global peace and security and bolstering partnership with it should be the cornerstone of Europe's foreign policy, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Wednesday.

In an address at the inaugural session of the Raisina Dialogue, Mitsotakis described the conflict in Ukraine as much more than a "local war on European soil" and that it is a "brutal challenge" to international stability and the rules-based order that India has supported.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, foreign ministers from a number of countries and a galaxy of strategic affairs experts and academicians attended the session.

When it comes to shaping global debates and addressing great challenges, India is now often regarded, and rightly so, as a consensus builder and a voice of reason in an increasingly polarised world, the Greek prime minister said.

"Today, India is a great power on the world stage and an important ally in pursuit of peace and security -- a rising force at the heart of G20 and a leading player in the fight against climate change," said Mitsotakis, the chief guest at the Raisina Dialogue.

"Strengthening our partnership with India should be the cornerstone of Europe's foreign policy and this is certainly true for my country," he said.

Highlighting the significance of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), Mitsotakis said Greece is sitting right at the centre of it.

"We are your natural doorstep to Europe and beyond," he said, calling the IMEC as a "peace project".

"The war in Gaza and the turmoil in the Middle-East are undoubtedly destabilising but it has not undermined the profound and powerful logic behind the IMEC," he said, noting that the stakeholders in the project must work tirelessly to implement the project.

"The IMEC is a peace project which can bring peace and prosperity," Mitsotakis said.

On Ukraine, the Greek leader said it is not a local war on European soil.

"Ukraine is much more than a local war on European soil. It is a brutal challenge to international stability and the international rules-based order that India has supported and has every interest in maintaining it," he said.

"We all have a responsibility to use the power we have on the international stage and none of us can afford to sit on the sidelines," he said.

"I am convinced on Ukraine, India has an important role to play. It has a voice that should be heard. Our common humanity and interconnectedness are inescapable...the Hindu scriptures put it so powerfully that the World is One Family," Mitsotakis said.

Delving into major geopolitical challenges, he said Indo-Pacific is a major area of focus for the European Union.

The Greek leader also talked about challenges facing democracies and democratic values.

Society functions best when all its citizens are equal and have the right to share in the running of the state, he said.

"We must, if necessary, own up to our mistakes, but above all we must listen to each other with mutual respect and without preaching or exhibiting any sense of moral superiority," he said.

Democracy can work best if all our citizens have the information they need to make informed decisions in the ballot boxes, he said.

On India-Greece ties, Mitsotakis said good progress has been made.

"We are at an unique moment of mutually beneficial opportunities -- one in which Greece, given its geographic, cultural and strategic proximity, can act as an interlocutor between India and Europe and even between Global North and Global South as well as between East and West," he said.

The Raisina Dialogue is India's flagship conference on geopolitics and geo-strategy.

The theme of the three-day conference is "Chaturanga: Conflict, Contest, Cooperate, Create". PTI