India-Portugal agree to setup four mil Euros science and technology fund

India and Portugal also signed several agreements including India-Portugal space alliance and a protocol amending the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement.

Thanking Portugal for supporting India's United Nations Security Council bid, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that both nations have agreed to setup a four million Euros worth of science and technology fund.

Modi, who is on a day long visit to Lisbon, said India and Portugal are determined to deepen cooperation against terrorism and violent extremism.

"We thank Portugal for your consistent support for India's permanent membership of UNSC, and of Multilateral Export Control Regime," he said during the joint statement along with his Portuguese counterpart Antonio Costa.

"New agreements in the field of taxation, science, space, youth affairs and sports outline expanding scope of our partnership," he further said.

Modi said that Portugal is a big fan of football and added that it connected India and Portuguese societies.

"Indian films are being subtitled in Portuguese and a Hindi-Portuguese dictionary is being developed for our mutual benefit," he said.

India and Portugal also signed several agreements including India-Portugal space alliance and a protocol amending the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement.

MoUs on nano technology, Public administration and Governance reforms, Cultural cooperation, youth and sports and Biotechnology were also signed.

Earlier, Prime Minister Antonio Costa, who has his origin in Goa, sprang a surprise for Modi when he hosted a special Gujarati vegetarian lunch for him.

Modi and Costa also took a stroll around the Palacio das Necessidades, a historic building in the Largo do Rilvas, a public square in Lisbon.

Costa, who is partially of Indian origin, had visited India in January, when he went to see his family members at his ancestral house in Goa.

(OneIndia News with agency inputs)