From India to Ireland...strengthening ties and deepening cooperation," Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted on landing in Dublin on Wednesday
The Taoiseach Enda Kenny hosted Prime Minister Modi for high level talks in Government Buildings. The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Charles Flanagan, and Ireland’s Ambassador to India, Feilim McLaughlin, also attended.
Addressing the media after his talks with the Taoiseach, PM Modi said India and Ireland share much in common, a shared colonial history and an important Constitutional bond in the form of Directive Principles, which the Indian Constitution-framers borrowed from the Irish constitution. "Our economic partnership can have a strong technology focus - IT, biotechnology & pharma, agricultural and clean energy," PM Modi said in a tweet.
After a working lunch, PM Modi gave the Taoiseach two specially selected gifts, honouring Irish officials who played a signature role in India's history. These were reproductions of manuscripts from the Indian National Archives. The Taoiseach presented PM Modi with a presonalised Irish cricket jersey and a traditional Irish hurley and sliothar from our native sport of hurling.
During this visit Prime Minister Modi also met representatives of the sizeable Indian community in Ireland at a special event organised by the Indian Embassy in Dublin.