Prime Minister Narendra Modi 4 -day visit to middle east
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Bisheshwar Mishra / New Delhi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Palestine during his three-day visit which also includes United Arab Emirates and Oman from February 9 to 12. This is part of de-hyphenated relationship and part of India’s long-term commitment to the Palestinian cause which India has stood for in all international forums, notwithstanding the latest bonhomie with Israel, so it seems.
According to the Ministry of External Affairs the PM will also lay the foundation of a Hindu temple to fulfill a long standing demand of the Indian Diaspora living in the region and to which the UAE government had consented to apportion land between Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Asked which Hindu God’s idol will be installed at this temple, Mridul Kumar, joint secretary (Gulf) said, “it is likely satisfy all sects of the Hindu communities living there. The final outcome will between the Indian Diaspora living there and the UAE authorities.”
The PM will also be visiting the Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi which is supposed to be one of world’s biggest mosque which has the largest wall-to-wall carpet anywhere in the world. This will be Prime Minister Modi’s second visit to UAE and first visit to Oman. He will be addressing the sixth World Government Summit being held at Dubai at which India has been extended the “guest of honour” status. He will also meet the Indian community in UAE and Oman, the ministry officials said.
This will be the first historic visit of an Indian Premier to Ramollah in Palestine where he will lay a wreath at Yassar Arafat’s (late charismatic Palestinian leader’s) museum. Modi will also initiate move to include Palestine into the Interpol (the International police organization) which assists governments of the world in the fight against the menace of drugs, smuggling, terrorism and other forms of crimes. India is likely to sign several MOUs with these countries which will assist her in counter terrorism measures.
During this visit bilateral treaties and joint declarations are likely to signed on several crucial areas relating to health, tourism, information technology (IT) , agriculture, youth affairs and sports, the officials said. With Palestine an information technology (IT) Park is very much on the agenda. These countries are likely to bolster each other’s counter terrorism measures and help enhance business investments to bolster infrastructure and trade.
