PM Modi meets Austrian President, discusses ways to expand bilateral cooperation

Vienna: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday met Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen here and the two leaders discussed ways to further expand bilateral cooperation.

"Had a very good meeting with Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen and discussed ways to expand India-Austria cooperation," Modi said in a post on X after the meeting.

Modi, who arrived here from Moscow after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday night on a two-day visit - the first by an Indian prime minister in over 40 years, earlier in the day met with Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer.

"Had an excellent meeting with Chancellor @karlnehammer. This visit to Austria is very special because it is after several decades that an Indian Prime Minister is visiting this wonderful country. It is also the time when we are marking 75 years of the India-Austria friendship," Modi said in a series of posts on X.

"There are several shared principles that connect us such as democracy and rule of law. In the spirit of these shared values, Chancellor @karlnehammer and I agreed to further cement the India-Austria friendship across various sectors," he said.

"Stronger economic ties naturally featured in our talks but we do not want to limit our friendship to only this aspect. We see immense potential in areas like infra development, innovation, water resources, AI, climate change and more," he said in another post.

Modi also interacted with business leaders from the two countries and invited Austrian companies to invest in India in infrastructure, energy, emerging technologies and other sectors.