This article covers cooperation between India and Portugal in defence, science and technology, and oceans and climate. Its source is the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) bilateral brief of November 2022.

Defence cooperation

According to the MEA brief of November 2022, India and Portugal signed the MoU on defence cooperation in January 2017. Both sides have regularly exchanged delegations and taken part in defence expos. A Portuguese defence delegation anchored by IdD took part in DEFEXPO in Lucknow in February 2020, and the second round of the Joint Working Group was held virtually in September 2021.

INS Tarangini's visits

On 17 June, the Indian Navy training ship INS Tarangini called at the Port of Lisbon as part of its Lokayan-2022 voyage. The voyage included visits to 17 ports in 14 countries before the ship hoisted the Indian flag in London as part of the AKAM celebrations. Members of the local Indo-Portuguese community, interlocutors and media were present on board, and the newspaper Diário de Notícias published an article about the ship on its website on 21 June.

On its return trip, INS Tarangini called at Porto from 26-28 August. Its crew had professional interactions and visited Portuguese naval ships and installations, and a friendly football match was played between the Indian sailors and the team of the Portuguese Northern Maritime Zone Command. Visitors from the local Indo-Portuguese community toured the vessel.

Science and technology

An Agreement for Cooperation in Science and Technology was signed in December 1998, establishing the Indo-Portuguese Joint Science & Technology Committee (JSTC). Every two years, the JSTC calls for research proposals and selects about 15 joint research projects. The brief names Ocean Science, Biotechnology, Materials Science, IT, Nanotechnology, Chemical Sciences and Engineering Sciences as areas of mutual interest.

The 5th Joint Science and Technology Committee meeting was held in Lisbon in March 2017. It concluded a Programme of Cooperation that included joint funding of 15 selected projects. The brief states that most of these 15 mobility projects are in the process of completion. Three joint workshops were held as an outcome of the meeting:

  • Marine Science, in July 2017, with ISRO, NIO and INCOIS taking part from India
  • Nanotechnology, in October 2018, at the Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory in Braga, with a delegation from JNCASR and IISc Bangaluru
  • Tissue Engineering, in February 2018, between the University of Minho and IIT, Kharagpur

Joint research fund

A MoU for launching a €4 million joint fund for S&T research collaboration was signed on 1 March 2019 between the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and its Portuguese counterpart FCT. The brief states that nearly 422 proposals were received by each side for 15 funded slots, including projects on Covid-19 related themes. 10 projects worth 2 million euros under the MoU between DST and FCT started at the beginning of 2022.

Technology Summit

An India-Portugal Technology Summit was held virtually in December 2020. It included thematic sessions on Healthtech, Cleantech, Energy, Climate Change, Watertech, Agrotech, Space-Ocean Interactions, and IT/ICT and advanced technologies. The Minister of Science & Technology, Health and Family Welfare and Earth Sciences inaugurated the summit and its digital exhibition on 7 December. Portuguese Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education Manuel Heitor also addressed it.

Oceans and climate

From 27 June to 1 July 2022, an official delegation led by Jitendra Singh, Minister of State (IC) for Science and Technology and Minister of State (IC) for Earth Sciences, visited Portugal for the 2022 UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon. On 28 June he presented India's statement to the full house of the conference.

According to the brief, he outlined that India has already taken a lead in Green Technology. He said that, as per PM Narendra Modi's 2030 goal, India is set to reduce its emissions by 45% by adding 500 gigawatts of renewable energy generators to the country's power usage, reducing almost one billion tonnes of its CO2 emissions.