“I would also interact with the Board Members of the Association of Diamond Traders in Belgium”, Modi said in the statement. Let me say Prime Minister that we share the depth of sorrow and grief that the people of Belgium have experienced in the last 8 days…Having experienced terrorist violence ourselves on countless occasions, we share your pain.
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Flanked by Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders, Narendra Modi paid his respects to victims of the March 22 bomb attack at Brussels’ Maelbeek station.
His daylong schedule in the city, which is still recovering from a terror attack last week that killed dozens of people, included attending the 13th India-European Union Summit.
Upon his arrival in Belgium on Wednesday morning, the visiting premier said that he was eager to hold a bilateral summit meeting with his Belgian counterpart Charles Michel (after the India-EU Summit).
During his address, Modi also told the public that the many meetings that he attended throughout the day were mostly about how to deal with terrorism.
Modi will hold talks with the Saudi king on a range of issues including expanding cooperation in counter-terrorism, and stepping up ties in energy, trade and investments.
Modi will later travel to Washington, D.C., for the Nuclear Security Summit where he is likely to meet his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif.
He said that India was developing its port sector in a big way and asserted that the nation’s inland waterways offered opportunities for Belgian businesses.
Several agreements are expected to be signed in Brussels and Saudi Arabia during the Prime Minister’s Modi’s visit.
“Will meet world leaders on the sidelines of Nuclear Security Summit & scientists associated with LIGO project”.
“Leaders would discuss ways and measure through which to strengthen the global nuclear security architecture, especially to ensure that non-state actors do not get access to nuclear material”, Modi said. In the 2015 fiscal year, India’s total trade with the bloc was valued at almost over $98 billion.
Modi arrived in Brussels on the first leg of his three-nation tour of Belgium, the United States and Saudi Arabia. “This will be certainly on the agenda for discussion”, she said.
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Economic relations is crucial to both countries because India depends on Saudi Arabia for more than 20 percent of its national oil imports.
