Modi in Davos: PM meets Justin Trudeau, tweets 'looking forward to welcoming you to India'

PM Narendra Modi on Tuesday met Canadian counterpart on the sidelines of World Economic Forum at Davos.

PM is having these short pull-aside with leaders of various countries in Davos, but meeting with Trudeau is significant as he will be coming to India next month. Trudeau will be coming to India on a state visit from February 17-23.

PM Modi tweeted after the meeting:

Delighted to meet you, PM @JustinTrudeau. Looking forward to welcoming you to India next month. pic.twitter.com/4FnRWKiVkz

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 23, 2018

This visit will build on these shared commitments as well as on recent meetings held between Prime Ministers Trudeau and Modi, and ministers from both countries. This visit - which includes stops in Agra, Amritsar, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, and New Delhi - will provide an opportunity for Prime Minister Trudeau to connect with Indian leaders in government and business, promote the empowerment of women and girls, and strengthen Canada and India's close economic ties.

He is also scheduled to visit ' several landmarks, including the Taj Mahal, Sri Harmandir Sahib (also known as the Golden Temple), and the Swaminarayan Akshardham in Gujarat'. Trudeau is expected to hold parleys with captains of  industries and also will interact with students. 

Trudeau was quoted as saying, “Canada and India share a special bond, and are linked by tremendous people-to-people connections. The more than one million Canadians of Indian origin make the relationship between our two countries a truly special one. I look forward to meeting with Prime Minister Modi, and further strengthening the Canada-India friendship.”

In a strong message against protectionism and inward-focused economic policies being practiced by some countries, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said such tendencies can be as dangerous as terrorism and climate change. Delivering the keynote address at the WEF Annual Summit here, Modi sought to position India in a leadership role globally and urged leaders to come together to help the world get rid of its fractures.
"There are many questions before us that require answer for generations to come. Is the existing international system promoting fractures and rift in this world? Can we remove these rifts and distances to make a good shared future?" the prime minister said.

Modi is the first Indian prime minister in two decades to attend the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meet, whose theme this year is 'Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World'. In what was seen as an apparent reference to policies like America First, especially since US President Donald Trump will be coming to Davos later this week, Modi said, "Many countries are becoming inward focused and globalisation is shrinking and such tendencies can't be considered lesser risk than terrorism or climate change."

With agency inputs