NEW DELHI, Nov 10: Prime Minister Narendra Modi embarks on a visit to the United Kingdom — the first Prime Minister-level visit in nearly 10 years — and Turkey from November 12 to 16.
The visit to UK is aimed at strengthening cooperation, particularly defence and in environmental issues, with one of the leading economic players of the world, the PM wrote in his Facebook message.
Referring to bilateral cooperation in defence, the PM said ”We have traditionally been cooperating extensively on defence and security issues and this visit will build on strong ties.
Defence manufacturing will be a prime focus in my talks. There will be deliberations on clean energy and I will seek to achieve progress in our endeavour to make clean energy more affordable and accessible for the 1.25 billion people of India, as also to enhance bilateral cooperation in the fields of science, technology and education.”
During his visit, Mr Modi will visit British Parliament to give an address there as well at the City of London at an event at The Old Library, Guildhall.
Ahead of the visit, the PM wrote in Facebook, ”India and UK are two vibrant democracies, which are proud of their diversity and multicultural societies.”
Though this visit to UK is also his first as PM, Mr Modi said he has had the opportunity to meet British Prime Minister David Cameron at various international forums and had ”productive” meetings. ”Cameron is a good friend of India’s, and we in India have had the privilege of welcoming him thrice during his first term as Prime Minister.”
During his stay in THE UK, the PM will attend a wide range of programmes. Besides meeting Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace, comprehensive talks are scheduled with Mr Cameron in London and at Chequers and discuss issues of mutual interest.
He will also interact with CEOs at a roundtable in London, Mr Moidi said and expressed that he was looking forward to such discussions ”because it entails frank dialogue and constructive feedback from investors. My message to the business community is clear ? come, make use of the opportunities India is offering and invest in India.”
Mr Modi will also be visiting the Tata Group owned Jaguar Land Rover factory at Solihull.
He said ”UK is one of the fastest growing G-7 economies and is home to a strong financial services sector. It is known for its innovative zeal and for its creative industries. You would be interested to know that UK has the largest diplomatic presence in India and is the 3rd largest source of foreign investment in our country. India too is the 3rd largest source of FDI (in terms of the number of projects) in UK. I see immense scope for our economic and trade relations to improve and this will benefit both our economies.”
On November 14, he will unveil a statue of Basaveshwara, a great scholar, philosopher and statesman. On his coming visit to Turkey for the G20 Summit from November 14, the PM said it would ”review the progress on decisions taken at the Brisbane Summit and take up issues of climate change, terrorism, refugees, weak growth in global economy, strategies for growth and employment, investment strategies, trade, energy and financial sector resilience.”
Coming as it did ahead of discussions on climate change at COP-21 in Paris on November 30-December 1, he said the summit was being held at a critical juncture, just after the adoption of Sustainable Development Goals agenda at the United Nations.(UNI)
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel