Express News Service
NEW DELHI: Ireland’s Prime Minister, Leo Varadkar, would like to visit India at the earliest possible, however with the ongoing events under G20’s Presidency, it is not likely for him to get any scheduled dates for the coming year, Ireland’s Ambassador to India, Brendan Ward told
“Varadkar is eager to visit India. However, with the tight schedules due to G20, it may not be possible soon. Since his father hails from Maharashtra he has made many trips to India, the last one was in 2019 with his partner. Whenever he comes, he not only visits Delhi but also Mumbai and Bengaluru,” Ward said.
Ireland is not involved with G20 directly, so will not make a presence in the events, though it is a part of EU.
Indians are one per cent of the population in Ireland and are close to 50,000 in numbers. Indian students too are increasingly opting for Universities across Ireland to pursue their graduate and undergraduate studies.
“Our visa services haven’t got impacted to the pandemic and it takes maximum of two weeks for a visa to come through. Close to 45,000 Indian visas are issued each year. Besides, Indian students can work in Ireland for two years on completion of their studies and most of them manage permanent placements,” Ward added.
The bilateral trade between India, Ireland stood at $6.5 billion in 2022. The export of goods from India is in the range of $2 billion which includes textiles, pharma, chemicals and agriculutural products. Exports from Ireland to India includes machinery, pharma products. Nearly 30 Irish companies are present in India.Besides, there is exchange of services like banking, insurance and tourism.
Ireland is hoping that the India-EU FTA is a comprehensive trade deal that benefits India and the member states of the EU -which Ireland is a part of.
“Both India and EU are important markets for each other and there should be a comprehensive trade agreement covering all sectors. The investment procedure agreement would cover 27 member states. The Indian side would be happy with an early harvest agreement like some limited wins in some sectors. However, we would like to push for a comprehensive agreement,’’ Ward said.
Meanwhile, one of the major roadblocks between India and Ireland is no direct flight services. “We are hoping that in 2023 Air India would commence direct flights to Dublin. With them revamping their services, and a large Indian diaspora, it would be great to have a direct flight which will take less than nine hours – from the over 14 hours it takes at present as we have to take connecting flights,’’ Ward added.
NEW DELHI: Ireland’s Prime Minister, Leo Varadkar, would like to visit India at the earliest possible, however with the ongoing events under G20’s Presidency, it is not likely for him to get any scheduled dates for the coming year, Ireland’s Ambassador to India, Brendan Ward told
“Varadkar is eager to visit India. However, with the tight schedules due to G20, it may not be possible soon. Since his father hails from Maharashtra he has made many trips to India, the last one was in 2019 with his partner. Whenever he comes, he not only visits Delhi but also Mumbai and Bengaluru,” Ward said.
Ireland is not involved with G20 directly, so will not make a presence in the events, though it is a part of EU.
Indians are one per cent of the population in Ireland and are close to 50,000 in numbers. Indian students too are increasingly opting for Universities across Ireland to pursue their graduate and undergraduate studies.
“Our visa services haven’t got impacted to the pandemic and it takes maximum of two weeks for a visa to come through. Close to 45,000 Indian visas are issued each year. Besides, Indian students can work in Ireland for two years on completion of their studies and most of them manage permanent placements,” Ward added.
The bilateral trade between India, Ireland stood at $6.5 billion in 2022. The export of goods from India is in the range of $2 billion which includes textiles, pharma, chemicals and agriculutural products. Exports from Ireland to India includes machinery, pharma products. Nearly 30 Irish companies are present in India.Besides, there is exchange of services like banking, insurance and tourism.
Ireland is hoping that the India-EU FTA is a comprehensive trade deal that benefits India and the member states of the EU -which Ireland is a part of.
“Both India and EU are important markets for each other and there should be a comprehensive trade agreement covering all sectors. The investment procedure agreement would cover 27 member states. The Indian side would be happy with an early harvest agreement like some limited wins in some sectors. However, we would like to push for a comprehensive agreement,’’ Ward said.
Meanwhile, one of the major roadblocks between India and Ireland is no direct flight services. “We are hoping that in 2023 Air India would commence direct flights to Dublin. With them revamping their services, and a large Indian diaspora, it would be great to have a direct flight which will take less than nine hours – from the over 14 hours it takes at present as we have to take connecting flights,’’ Ward added.
