November 26,New Delhi
The official Spokeperson of Ministry of external affairs Shri Syed Akbaruddin told press that PM Modi again stressed on interaction with the other SAARC members. Prime Minister had this afternoon five bilateral engagements. These were with Prime Minister of Bhutan, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, the President of Afghanistan, the President of Maldives and the President of Sri Lanka. Since the meetings were following the Prime Minister’s initial statement, much of the discussions were structured around the statements made and events at the SAARC this morning.
The general trend that we noticed was that several of the leaders who met him complimented him for his forward-looking vision for South Asian cooperation. Some of them said that South Asia was looking for Indian leadership; India’s leadership was essential; it was necessary. There were others who said that his vision was an inspiring one; a third who said ‘you have stolen the limelight today’. There were others who also said that the tone of your statement behoves that of a great power, it had great humility in it. That was in terms of just setting the tone.
