All India Radio
PRIME MINISTER 3 NATION VISIT
Prime Minister Narendra Modi left for a three – nation tour to Belgium, United States and Saudi Arabia. Prime Minister will take part in a India-EU summit and series of activities at Brussels apart from addressing Indian Diaspora. In his second leg of the tour, the Prime Minister will attend the fourth Nuclear Security Summit at Washington DC. Before wrapping up his trip, the Prime Minister will visit Saudi Arabia where 2.96 million Indians are residing.
Agenda at Brussels
- Belgium was one of the first Western countries with whom India established diplomatic relations right after we became independent in 1947. Next year, that is 2017, will mark the 70th anniversary of our diplomatic relations.
- Belgium has supported India’s quest for a permanent membership of the UN Security Council. In 2008, they supported in the NSG waiver and second largest trading partner in the EU after Germany.
- India is looking to enhancing India-Belgium cooperation in areas of priority for us and areas of mutual interest such as counterterrorism, renewable energy, biotechnology, shipping, ICT and taxation.
- Later that day Prime Minister will also take part in India EU summit where he will take forward the ongoing consultations with the European Union, EU on finalization of Broad based Trade and Investment Agreement, BTIA and sectoral cooperation in specific areas like renewable energy, water, urban development, education, skilling, ICT, research, innovation, culture.
Agenda in USA
- The PM will attend nuclear security summit that would deliberate on the crucial issue of threat to nuclear security caused by nuclear terrorism. Leaders would discuss ways and measure through which to strengthen the global nuclear security architecture, especially to ensure that non-state actors do not get access to nuclear material.
- Focus of discussions would be on international institutional actions to strengthen nuclear security. The focus would be on international follow-up through institutions such as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations (UN), the Interpol, the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism and the G8 Global Partnership. The summit will adopt a five draft action plans that focus on follow-up on nuclear security through these institutions.
- Through this summit India is expected in raising high level awareness of the threat of nuclear terrorism and the need to strengthen international cooperation against terrorists and nuclear traffickers. The summit would help bolster legal, institutional and enforcement measures to strengthen the security of nuclear material, radioactive sources, associated facilities and technologies. India will also press for countries to sign up to and implement the legally binding instruments related to nuclear security.
Agenda at Saudi Arabia
- During the visit, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will hold discussions with King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud on bilateral, regional and multilateral issues of mutual interest.
- India and Saudi Arabia share friendly relations based on close people-to-people contacts. The ‘Strategic Partnership’ established through Riyadh declaration in 2010 envisions a deeper engagement in political, economic, security and defence areas. In recent years, there has been significant progress in bilateral cooperation in such key areas of mutual interest.
- Saudi Arabia has become our 4th largest partner with bilateral trade exceeding US$ 33 billion in 2014-15. Saudi Arabia is also India’s largest crude oil supplier accounting for about one-fifth of our total imports.
- Indians form the largest expatriate community in Saudi Arabia and their contribution in the progress and development of their host country is well recognized. There are over 2.96 million Indian nationals presently working in Saudi Arabia.
Click here and search for spot light/ News Analysis dated 29th March 2016.
