World Economic Forum: PM Modi holds bilateral meeting with Swiss President

Narendra Modi is the first Indian PM to attend the WEF in about 20 years since HD Deve Gowda in 1997.

Pic courtesy: Twitter/@MEAIndia

Davos: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday held a bilateral meeting with Swiss President Alain Berset. 

First engagement in snowing #Davos, PM @narendramodi met with Swiss President @alain_berset. Two leaders had productive discussions on steps to further deepen our bilateral cooperation built upon our shared values of democracy and diversity. #IndiaMeansBusiness pic.twitter.com/S7U3m7lTtX — Raveesh Kumar (@MEAIndia) January 22, 2018

He arrived in Switzerland earlier on Monday to take part in World Economic Forum. PM Modi will deliver the opening address on Tuesday where he will "share his vision for India's future engagements with the international community".

On his way to Davos, PM @narendramodi arrives in Zurich. First visit by Indian PM to #Davos in 20 years! PM would make a keynote speech at the Plenary of the #WorldEconomicForum, address International Business Council and interact with CEOs. #IndiaMeansBusiness pic.twitter.com/t2ey7cR4S9 — Raveesh Kumar (@MEAIndia) January 22, 2018

He is the first Indian PM to attend the WEF in about 20 years since HD Deve Gowda in 1997. The Indian presence is the largest ever with over 130 participants

PM Modi is accompanied by six union ministers - Arun Jaitley, Suresh Prabhu, Piyush Goyal, Dharmendra Pradhan, MJ Akbar and Jitendra Singh.

A CEOs delegation, led by apex industry body CII and including Mukesh Ambani, Gautam Adani, Azim Premji, Rahul Bajaj, N Chandrasekaran, Chanda Kochhar, Uday Kotak and Ajay Singh, among others, are also representing India.

Earlier on Sunday, PM Modi had said that India's engagement with the outside world in the recent years had become "truly and effectively multi-dimensional covering the political, economic, people to people, security and other spheres".

In a series of tweets, he had also said, "At Davos, I look forward to sharing my vision for India's future engagement with the international community. I am confident that these bilateral meetings would be fruitful and give a boost to our relations with these countries and further strengthen economic engagement.

"The existing and emerging challenges to the contemporary international system and global governance architecture deserve serious attention of leaders, governments, policy makers, corporates and civil societies around the world," PM Modi had further said.

Over 3,000 world leaders from business, politics, art, academia and civil society will attend the 48th WEF annual meeting in the small ski resort town on snow-covered Alps mountains.

The summit is also being attended by US President Donald Trump, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emannuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Theresa May, among others.

Trump is due to close the conference with a speech on Friday.

(With PTI inputs)