Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Tuesday become the first Prime Minister after Rajiv Gandhi to make a standalone visit to Spain. Before leaving for his four-nation tour, Modi had said he would discuss ways to improve bilateral ties in the economic sector as well as ways to collaborate on common international matters including terrorism with his Spanish counterpart Mariano Rajoy (pictured above). Modi is on a tour of Germany, Spain, France and Russia.
“We seek active participation of Spanish industry in various Indian projects including infrastructure, smart cities, digital economy, renewable energy, defence and tourism,” Modi had said.
The Prime Minister is also scheduled to meet King Felipe VI of Spain and local business leaders during his visit on May 30 and 31. Modi said he will encourage Spanish chief executive officers to collaborate with his government’s Make in India programme. “The first meeting of the India-Spain CEOs Forum will be held on the sidelines of my visit,” Modi had said on Facebook. “I look forward to their valuable recommendations for strengthening India-Spain economic partnership.”
On Monday, Modi met German Chancellor Angela Merkel where they discussed bilateral matters of trade and common challenges of terrorism. Describing his discussion with Merkel as a “good interaction”, Modi told a local newspaper that Europe should “play a lead role in developing an effective global response under the aegis of the United Nations to deal with this menace”.
Modi told German newspaper Handelsblatt that terrorism is the “gravest challenge facing humanity”.
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