Ulsan: India’s jet setting Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday left for home after wrapping up his six-day tour across China, Mongolia and South Korea where he held bilateral talks and signed several pacts to bolster India’s relations with the three countries.
“My visit to the Republic of Korea has been very satisfying. I thank the Korean people & Government for their warm hospitality,” Modi tweeted before he emplaned for Delhi after meeting Busan Mayor Suh Byung-soo.
“Meetings with President Park Geun-hye and business leaders were fruitful. Many aspects of strengthening India-Korea cooperation were discussed. I leave with the confidence that our ties will get even better and our relationship will benefit people of our nations,” he said.
Modi, who began his trip with China, held wide-ranging talks with the leadership of the three nations and also wooed investors for his ‘Make in India’ campaign.
In South Korea – the final destination of his three-nation tour – Modi and President Park held discussions and resolved to add “new substance, speed and content” covering defence, trade and investment, and regional cooperation to take the bilateral ties to a qualitatively higher level.
South Korea decided to provide $10 billion to India for infrastructure, development of smart cities, railways, power generation and other diversified areas as the two countries agreed to upgrade their bilateral relationship to a “Special Strategic Partnership”.
Modi began his three-day visit to China from Xi’an, the hometown of Chinese President Xi Jinping with whom he held “very substantive” discussions focussing on strengthening of mutual trust and the boundary issue.
Modi also held talks with his counterpart Li Keqiang and pushed for clarifying the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
The Prime Minister then headed to Mongolia for the first ever visit by an Indian Premier to the country.
Modi held wide-ranging discussions with his Mongolian counterpart Chimed Saikhanbileg and the two leaders pledged to take bilateral economic partnership to a new level.
During the visit, India also announced a $1 billion credit line to Mongolia for infrastructure development as the two countries upgraded their ties to “Strategic Partnership” and agreed to deepen defence cooperation besides exploring potential for tie ups in areas like the civil nuclear sector.
Modi’s visit to the three countries also had its share of colour and light moments as he was seen clicking selfies with leaders and common people, shooting arrows and playing musical instruments.Â