Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaches Cyprus
Becoming the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Cyprus in 23 years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached the Mediterranean island country Sunday where he was greeted at the airport by President Nikos Christodoulides.
Touched by this “special gesture” of welcoming him at the airport, Modi said, “This visit will add significant momentum to India-Cyprus relations, especially in areas like trade, investment and more.”
The two sides are expected to sign multi-level cooperation agreements when the two leaders meet Monday for talks.
Cyprus is the Prime Minister’s first stop on a three-nation tour that will also take him to Canada for the G7 meeting and Croatia in the Balkans. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the last Prime Minister to visit Cyprus in 2002.
Cyprus, which has been engaged in territorial disputes with Turkey which invaded the island in 1974 and occupied its north, has consistently supported India’s position on Kashmir, cross-border terrorism and UN Security Council reforms.
Besides countering the Islamabad-Ankara alignment, the visit to the Mediterranean nation also comes at a time when Delhi is looking to build bridges with Europe – External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar just concluded a six-day visit to France and Belgium.