PM Modi returns home after successful Ireland, US visit

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi returned on Tuesday night after his weeklong two nation visit to Ireland and the United States.
Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay and several other party leaders were present at the airport to receive the Prime Minister.
The first leg of the two-nation visit was to Ireland on September 23, which was the first visit of an Indian Prime Minister after 60 years.
During his day-long stay, Prime Minister Modi held bilateral talks with his Irish counterpart Enda Kenny.
In a joint interaction with the media after the talks, Kenny said that Ireland fully endorsed the need for India to be considered for permanent membership in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and also urged the United Nations to recognise the geopolitical realities of massive countries like India.
He also said that the opportunities for the smaller countries should also not diminish at the UNSC.
“We also discussed that question of the reform of the United Nations, the Security Council. We recognise that changes that take place, on one hand should not diminish the opportunity of small countries in the Security Council and on the other hand should recognise the geopolitical realities of massive countries like India,” Kenny said.
Kenny and Prime Minister Modi also discussed other issues of mutual interest to the two countries, including ways to take bilateral trade ties forward.
Prime Minister Modi also used his time in Ireland to interact with the Indian Diaspora.
From Dublin, the Prime Minister flew to New York, where he was engaged in several activities, including roundtable meetings with captains of American industry and media, bilateral meetings with a host of world leaders, and addressing the UN global sustainability summit. He also met with the leaders of the G-4 group of nations, where it was unanimously decided that it was time for the UN and the UNSC to seriously consider text-based reforms with a sense of immediacy and priority.
From New York, the Prime Minister flew down to San Jose, California, for a visit to the Silicon Valley, where he interacted with founders of start-ups, entrepreneurs and technology leaders in the Silicon Valley, including Satya Nadella (Microsoft), Sundar Pichai (Google), Tim Cook (Apple), Elon Musk (Tesla Motors) and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. He visited the headquarters of Tesla Motors and Facebook.
He joined Zuckerberg in a Townhall question and answer session with the Indian Americans and Americans at the Facebook Menlo Park headquarters.
Before leaving San Jose for New York, Prime Minister Modi also addressed Indian Diaspora at the SAP Centre.
On his return to New York, Prime Minister Modi had bilateral meetings with U.S. President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Francois Hollande.
During his meeting with President Obama, Prime Minister Modi thanked the former for his support for India’s candidature for a permanent seat in the UNSC and both also agreed to take their climate change initiatives forward.
Before landing in Delhi, the Prime Minister and his entourage had a stopover in Frankfurt.

ANI