India's Permanent Mission to UN hosts European Parliament delegation in New York

A delegation of 17 Members of European Parliament (MEPs) paid a visit to India's Permanent Mission to the United Nations here on Tuesday and discussed efforts with Indian officials to enhance bilateral ties.

"Engaging to enhance ties @UN. We @IndiaUNNewYork were happy to host a delegation of 17 Members of European Parliament to discuss efforts to enhance r ties @UN," India's permanent representative to UN Syed Akbaruddin tweeted alongside a picture of him with the contingent.

Responding to a question from a Twitterer on whether the lawmakers were official EU delegates, the diplomat said, "Yes Sir. MEPs from 10 countries from 5 different groups in the European Parliament had a very engaging discussion for an hour."

The meeting came on the same day when a 27-member delegation of MEPs visited Jammu and Kashmir to assess the ground situation in the region following the Centre's decision to strip the region of its special status under Article 370 of the Constitution on August 5.

This is the first time that the government has allowed a foreign delegation to visit Jammu and Kashmir post-abrogation of Article 370.

The delegation comprised Poland's Joana Kopcinska, Grzegorz Tobiszowski, Ryszard Czarnecki, Kosma Zlotowski, Bogdan Rzonca, Elzbieta Rafalska; Italy's Silvia Sardone, Gianna Gancia, Fulvio Martusciello, Guiseppe Ferrandino; France's France Jamet, Nicholas Bay, Virginie Joron, Julie Lechanteux, Maxette Pirbakas, and Thierry Mariani.

The other members included Germany's Bernhard Zimniok, Lars Patrick Berg; Spain's Hermann Tertsch, Belgium's Tom Vandendriessche; UK's David Richard Bull, Bill Newton Dunn, Alexandra Phillips, James Wells, Nathan Gill; Czech Republic's Tomas Zdechobsky, and Slovakia's Peter Pollak.