Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg arrived in India on Saturday as he begins his first official visit to the country amid the Ukraine crisis.

Taking to twitter, the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Arindam Bagchi said, “We welcome Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg as he begins his first official visit to India.”

Earlier, on Friday, India and Austria held the sixth round of Foreign Office Consultations virtually and discussed various aspects of bilateral relations including political, economic, commercial ties as well as cultural and academic linkages.

According to sources of the MEA, the Indian side was led by Dammu Ravi, Additional Secretary and the Austrian side was led by Ambassador Gregor Koessler, Director General for Political Affairs in the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs.

The talks covered the entire range of bilateral relations, including political, economic, and commercial ties as well as cultural and academic linkages, the ministry said.

It further stated that two sides exchanged views on the COVID-19 pandemic and post-pandemic recovery including vaccines. Regional and global issues including developments in the Indo-Pacific, neighbourhood policy, terrorism, and India-EU Relations, amongst others were also discussed.

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