page_title: India–Portugal relations
section_title: Increasing diplomatic contacts
hierarchical_section_title: India–Portugal relations / Aftermath / Increasing diplomatic contacts
caption_attribution_description: English: Handshake between the Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa (left) and the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (right), during the former's official visit to India, in January 2017. Português: Aperto de mãos entre o Primeiro-ministro Português António Costa (à esquerda) e o Primeiro-ministro Indiano Narendra Modi (à direita), durante a visita oficial daquele à Índia, em Janeiro de 2017.
context_page_description: Relations between India and Portugal began amicably in 1947 when the former achieved independence. Relations went into decline after 1950 over Portugal's refusal to surrender its exclaves of Goa, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli on India's west coast. By 1955, the two nations had cut off diplomatic relations, triggering a crisis which precipitated in the Indian annexation of Portuguese India in 1961. Portugal refused to recognise Indian sovereignty over the annexed territories until 1974 when, following the Carnation Revolution, the new government in Lisbon recognised Indian sovereignty and restored diplomatic relations.
context_section_description: Signs of improved relations included two visits of Mario Soares: one as Prime Minister to attend the 1984 funeral of Indira Gandhi and again President/chief guest at the Republic Day event in New Delhi in 1992. President Venkataraman in 1990 and President KR Narayanan in 1998 made state visits in addition to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for the first India-Portugal Summit in June 2000. Aníbal Cavaco Silva paid a state visit in January 2007 followed by the visit of Prime Minister Jose Socrates in December 2007. Prime Minister António Costa paid yet another visit in January 2017.
  Parliamentary exchanges commenced in 1999 with a visit of 9 ministers from Portugal led by Dr. Antonio de Almeida Santos, Speaker of the National Assembly of the Portuguese Republic from 15–22 December 1999. Dr. Joao Bosco Mota Amaral, Speaker of Parliament then led a 4-member delegation to the Golden Jubilee celebrations of India's Parliament on 21–25 January 2003. India dispatched a 12-member Parliamentary Delegation led by Manohar Joshi, Speaker of the Lok Sabha to Portugal from 25–28 May 2003 and a 16-member Parliamentary Goodwill Delegation led by Minister for Parliamentary Affairs & Information and Broadcasting, Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi visited on 6–7 November 2007.
  Ministerial visits included Dr. Joao Cravinho, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs on 21–22 November 2006, Anand Sharma, Indian Minister of State (MOS) for External Affairs to Lisbon from 10–12 June 2007, Luis Amado Foreign, Minister of Portugal to India from 8–11 July 2008 and Shashi Tharoor as MOS to the COD Ministerial in July 2009.
  Portugal President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa is to make a four-day visit to India in 2020 or 2021. The last visit by a Portugal President to India was in 2007.
caption: António Costa shakes hands with Narendra Modi in January 2017.
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