In its 2025 CEIAS Papers publication, “Visegrad Four and India: Searching for collaboration agenda amid global geopolitical upheaval”, the Central European Institute of Asian Studies (CEIAS) examines the potential for deeper cooperation between India and the Visegrad Four (V4), comprising Poland, Czechia, Hungary, and Slovakia. Edited by Matej Šimalčík and Jagannath Panda, the report is authored by Matej Šimalčík, Jagannath Panda, Vladimíra Ličková, Jiří Krejčík, Antonina Łuszczykiewicz-Mendis, Swati Prabhu, and Júlia Szivák. It situates India’s growing engagement with Central Europe within a changing geopolitical environment shaped by the Russia–Ukraine war, intensifying great-power competition, and efforts to diversify strategic partnerships. The report argues that the V4’s industrial capacity, economic integration within the European Union, and growing interest in the Indo-Pacific create opportunities for India to expand its European engagement beyond traditional partners such as France, Germany, and the United Kingdom.
The report identifies Poland and Czechia as India’s more developed bilateral partners within the V4, while highlighting the underutilised potential of Hungary and Slovakia. India and Poland elevated their relationship to a Strategic Partnership during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2024 visit, creating opportunities for cooperation in defence, logistics, migration, and trade. Czechia’s engagement with India centres on innovation, digital governance, cybersecurity, and technology cooperation. The chapter on Hungary highlights growing economic ties, including Indian investments in automotive manufacturing and services, alongside similarities in the two countries’ approaches to strategic autonomy and multi-alignment. However, the authors note that these political and economic connections have yet to develop into a more coherent strategic partnership. In Slovakia’s case, despite expanding trade and President Droupadi Murmu’s 2025 visit, engagement remains limited by the absence of a clear strategic vision and sustained high-level political exchanges.
Economic cooperation forms a central part of the report’s proposed agenda. The authors identify automotive manufacturing, industrial machinery, clean technology, pharmaceuticals, and digital infrastructure as areas where India’s manufacturing ambitions could complement the V4’s integration into European industrial value chains. They also highlight shared interests in supply-chain resilience and reducing dependence on China, alongside opportunities in cybersecurity, digital sovereignty, and energy transition. India’s capabilities in solar energy, batteries, and green hydrogen could complement the V4’s decarbonisation efforts. However, the report identifies limited investment protection arrangements, bureaucratic barriers, and underdeveloped institutional mechanisms as constraints on deeper economic engagement.
The report also emphasises the importance of public diplomacy and societal connections. CEIAS polling indicates limited awareness and mixed perceptions of India across the V4, with Poland recording comparatively positive views. The authors identify student mobility, university partnerships, joint research, scholarships, and cultural exchanges as areas requiring greater attention. They argue that deeper cooperation cannot depend exclusively on diplomatic and economic engagement, but also requires stronger people-to-people connections and a broader public understanding of India.
The report’s central recommendation is to move beyond predominantly bilateral engagement towards a more structured V4+India dialogue, supported by regular ministerial meetings, 1.5 Track exchanges, and sectoral cooperation in defence, green technology, digital governance, and education. This agenda has gained immediate relevance following the first-ever V4+India foreign ministers’ meeting on the sidelines of the 81st UN General Assembly in New York on 21 September 2026. The four V4 countries expressed support for India’s permanent membership of the UN Security Council, while the meeting outlined plans for annual ministerial engagements and a business forum.
These developments provide an initial institutional response to the report’s call for more regular regional engagement. The next test will be whether the new dialogue translates into sustained cooperation across trade, defence, technology, and research, while accommodating differences among the four V4 members.
