In 41 years, this is the first visit to Austria by an Indian prime minister.
Tuesday marked the arrival of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Austria following his two-day visit to Russia.
Tuesday marked the arrival of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Austria following his two-day visit to Russia.
Alexander Schallenberg, the foreign minister of Austria, greeted Modi at the airport. Afterwards, he met with people from the Indian diaspora and attended a private meeting with Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer.
Modi is scheduled to meet with Chancellor Karl Nehammer and President Alexander Van der Bellen of Austria during his visit. According to PTI, the Chancellor and Prime Minister will also speak to business executives from Austria and India.
Prior to his trip to Austria on Sunday, Modi stated that the two nations will continue to forge a closer relationship based on their shared principles of democracy, freedom, and the rule of law.
“I very much look forward to welcoming Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India, the world’s largest democracy, next week in Vienna,” Austrian Chancellor Nehammer said on ‘X’ the day before he made his statement.
“This visit is a special honour as it marks the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister in over 40 years and a significant milestone as we celebrate 75 years of diplomatic relations with India,” he stated.
“We will have the opportunity to talk about further deepening our bilateral relationship and closer cooperation on the many geopolitical challenges,” the chancellor of Austria stated.
“Thank you, Chancellor Karl Nehammer,” Modi said. To be in Austria on this historic occasion is a true honor. I’m excited for our conversations about fostering closer ties between our countries and looking into potential new areas of collaboration.”
“The shared values of democracy, freedom and rule of law form the bedrock upon which we will build an ever closer partnership,” stated the president.
PM Modi’s Russia visit
Modi wrapped up his two days of high-profile travel to Russia earlier in the day, where he was present at President Vladimir Putin’s 22nd India-Russia annual meeting. His first visit to the nation since its invasion of Ukraine was this one.
India and Russia decided on a plan for bilateral cooperation in the commercial, economic, and investment domains in the Russian Far East for the years 2024–2029, according to the list of agreements and memoranda of understandings made public by the Ministry of External Affairs. The two nations also agreed on guidelines for cooperation in the Russian Federation’s Arctic region. These steps were taken in an effort to strengthen bilateral investment and trade between Russia’s Far East and India.
In addition, Prime Minister Modi lauded Russia’s support for India during the visit, referring to it as India’s “all-weather friend” and praising President Putin for forging closer connections between the two nations during the previous 20 years.
Additionally, Modi met with Russian President Putin at the Kremlin, where he reaffirmed India’s support for peace and readiness to assist in putting an end to the crisis in Ukraine.
A day after an apparent Russian missile struck a children’s hospital in Kyiv, sparking international outcry, Modi said that the killing of innocent children is heartbreaking and extremely painful.
“Let’s take terrorism, war, or any other conflict. Anyone who has faith in mankind is pained when people perish, especially when they are innocent children. The heart just bursts with such anguish, and I had the chance to discuss these matters with you yesterday,” Modi said to Putin.
President Putin also ceremoniously awarded Modi the highest civilian honor in Russia, the Order of St. Andrew the Apostle the First-Called. Notably, PM Modi was given the honor in 2019, but he really accepted it today.
