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PM Modi Concludes Visit To Croatia After Meeting Top Leadership

PM Modi Concludes Visit To Croatia After Meeting Top Leadership

NDTV6 hours ago

Zagreb:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday concluded his visit to Croatia, where he held talks with the Balkan nation's top leadership on a range of issues to boost bilateral ties.
PM Modi, who is the first Indian prime minister to visit Croatia, was here on the last leg of his three-nation tour.
"PM @narendramodi emplanes for New Delhi after concluding three-nation tour to Cyprus, Canada and Croatia," the PMO posted on X.
PM @narendramodi held talks with President Mr. Zoran Milanović in Zagreb, Croatia. The leaders reaffirmed their resolve to deepen India-Croatia relations in sectors such as trade, culture and more. @Ured_PRH pic.twitter.com/vSJXIJLapJ
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) June 18, 2025
He arrived in Zagreb earlier in the day and was received by Prime Minister Andrej Plenković at the airport.
PM Modi held delegation-level talks with Plenković and met President Zoran Milanovic to discuss a range of issues to boost bilateral ties.
PM Modi said he and his Croatian counterpart have decided to give a "three-time" pace to the bilateral ties and said a plan would be made to boost defence cooperation between the two countries.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri were present during the talks.
The two nations also signed four memoranda of cooperation in the areas of agriculture, culture, and science. Another memorandum was signed between the ICCR and the University of Zagreb, related to the study of Indology.
He reached Croatia from Canada, where he attended the G7 summit and held talks with several world leaders.
In his address at the Summit, the prime minister told the leaders of the seven-nation bloc that India's neighbourhood has become a breeding ground for terrorism and turning a blind eye towards the challenge would be a "betrayal of humanity". He also sought action against Pakistan for its support of cross-border terrorist activities.
He had earlier visited Cyprus as part of the tour, where he held wide-ranging talks with Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides.
During his visit, PM Modi and Christodoulides also viewed from atop a building the mountains near Nicosia, which are under Turkish control, signalling a message to Turkiye, which had openly supported Pakistan during the recent conflict with India.
His visit to Cyprus assumed significance in the wake of the island nation's strained ties with Turkiye.
This was his first foreign visit after India carried out Operation Sindoor in May during which it destroyed terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir in retaliation to the Pahalgam attack.
During his visit, PM Modi was conferred with the Grand Cross of the Order of Makarios III of Cyprus, the country's highest civilian honour.

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India's Disastrous Isolation Around the World
India's Disastrous Isolation Around the World

The Wire

time33 minutes ago

  • The Wire

India's Disastrous Isolation Around the World

It is pretty clear now that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will probably not join the elite G7 meeting in Alberta, Canada, scheduled from June 15 to 17. Alberta is not among the cities he seems to have seen so far in his 152 foreign visits to 72 countries in the last 11 years. So, it's a bit of a miss on both sides. However, what he may miss more is not being able to hug the new Canadian PM, Mark Carney (what a relief, after that hostile Trudeau!), the new German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, and his known leaders, like PM Keir Starmer of the UK, French President Emmanuel Macron (after that dreadful family incident) and PM Shigeru Ishiba of Japan. One is not certain if the glamorous Italian PM, Giorgia Meloni, would welcome a public embrace. As for US President Donald Trump – even he does not know whether he'll hug Modi for photo ops, or punch him for denying repeatedly and vociferously that he brokered the Indo-Pak ceasefire. 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Where Modi is concerned, everything is mumkin and he could actually plan a visit to Manipur after 25 long months, now that his tight schedule is annoyingly relaxed. Or, he may pose for some grim photos in Pahalgam's pristine but now infamous Baisaran Valley, where the clime is almost like Alberta's. There's some talk that he may actually prefer the sunny beaches of the whodunnit mystery deepens – who could have actually stopped Modi from hanging around and twiddling his thumbs as a guest, while the seven hosts attend to their more serious G7 business? After all, he has been attending these upper crust meets for the last 6 years. According to media reports, Canada has invited the political heads of Australia, South Africa, Brazil and even Ukraine, but not India. A good guess is that pesky Khalistanis pressured the Canadian PM not to invite Modi. But can Sikhs, who are just 2.1% of Canada's population, wield such disproportionate clout? It is believed that many (if not most) of them are not in favour of violence or of Khalistan. Or, is it that Canada's police and security don't want messy and TV-magnified anti-Modi demonstrations at the venue? The Five Eyes intelligence-sharing group, consisting of the US, the UK and its three white country cousins – Australia, Canada and New Zealand – were mighty cut up with India after the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the Khalistani separatist leader in Canada. Like the UN Security Council, there is a closed door cabal of a handful of nations, the intelligence agencies of which are authorised to eliminate their enemies, wherever they be. Other than the CIA and MI-6, as well as FSS (Federal Security Service), Russia's successor of its deadly KGB, there is darling Israel's Mossad. But others are a strict no-no. This could be a signal by G7 to Modi to start behaving more diplomatically and within his station in life. 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Shopkeepers, big businessmen, street-smart deal-makers and even truck drivers, labourers and sweepers of Indian origin abroad – legit or otherwise – have no such worries from our missions, as most are smitten by the infallible leader and swear by him. Never in Indian history have Indian missions abroad been viewed so strangely – like the Chinese or the Russian ones – despite the superb quality of most Indian diplomats and our long tradition of being a plural democracy. They are, after all, being cajoled into this by their former tribal chief, who acts more and more cranky since he was catapulted to the foreign minister's hot seat. He was selected precisely because he knows his flock and can ensure – a la Amit Shah – that there ain't no conscientious dissenters in this vast global network, that now spews whatever boss-man wants. Orders are orders – even if they mean glib-talking about Adani's dubious deals in, say, Kenya or Bangladesh – the backlash for both of which India faces today. 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The friendly Indian, in fact, the sentimental South Asian community that banded together, is now split into fierce groups – which does not enhance a nation's popularity. Loud protests by a vocal and powerful diaspora that takes umbrage at locals or at other brown people for the slightest insult further alienate foreigners about Indians. Anti-Indian demonstrations are on the rise – against attacks on minorities in India or for reasons that protestors consider condemnable. These were usually viewed by Indian diplomats as an occupational hazard. But, nowadays, the sound and ferocity with which each is shouted down by an undiplomatic foreign minister – to please his new Hindu extremist party, its members and the boss – again startles the more diplomatic diplomats. 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He was earlier Secretary, Government of India, and CEO of Prasar Bharati.

Hindi default 3rd language in Maharashtra schools unless 20 students pick alternative
Hindi default 3rd language in Maharashtra schools unless 20 students pick alternative

Hindustan Times

time37 minutes ago

  • Hindustan Times

Hindi default 3rd language in Maharashtra schools unless 20 students pick alternative

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50 years on, Emergency victims in Kerala await official recognition
50 years on, Emergency victims in Kerala await official recognition

New Indian Express

time42 minutes ago

  • New Indian Express

50 years on, Emergency victims in Kerala await official recognition

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