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Members of the Indian diaspora in the United Kingdom, particularly from the Dawoodi Bohra community, extended a warm welcome to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his ongoing visit, expressing admiration for his longstanding ties with their community and his global leadership.
"We're incredibly excited to welcome Prime Minister Modi. As Dawoodi Bohras, we are very proud of the relationship that the Prime Minister has with our community. He's been a friend of our community for many years. And as a proud Dawoodi Bohra and as a British citizen, we welcome him to the UK and look forward to meeting him," said a community member in London. Echoing the sentiment, another member of the Dawoodi Bohra community added, "I'm very excited. This is my first time personally meeting PM Modi. He's a great friend to the Dawoodi Bohra community. It will always be a pleasure to meet him. We welcome him and we hope that one day he will visit us at our mosque in the UK as well." The excitement surrounding the Prime Minister's visit extended beyond the Dawoodi Bohra community. Members of the wider Indian diaspora also expressed their admiration for Modi's leadership and global stature. Preena, a member of the Indian diaspora in London, said, "I am so excited to see PM Modi. My family and I are huge fans of PM Modi. He has done so much for India's progress. He made India a Vishwaguru. He made India very powerful on the world stage." The Prime Minister's visit is not only being welcomed with warmth by the Indian community but also holds diplomatic significance. Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in the United Kingdom on Wednesday in the first leg of his two-nation visit, with the two countries poised to further strengthen bilateral ties by signing a Free Trade Agreement. PM Modi landed in London for a two-day visit to the United Kingdom. In his departure statement, PM Modi had said that India and UK share a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership that has witnessed significant progress in recent years. "Our collaboration spans a wide range of sectors, including trade, investment, technology, innovation, defence, education, research, sustainability, health and people-to-people ties," he said. PM Modi will hold discussions with his UK counterpart Keir Starmer. The two leaders will have the opportunity to further enhance economic partnership, aimed at fostering prosperity, growth and jobs creation in both countries. PM Modi will also call on Charles III. This will be Prime Minister's fourth visit to the United Kingdom since assuming office. He has visited previously in 2015 and 2018, and he was there in 2021 for the COP26 summit in Glasgow. Within the last year itself, Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Starmer have met twice, first on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro last year, and more recently, just last month, in June, in Kananaskis in Canada, on the sidelines of the G7 summit. The India-UK partnership was upgraded to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2021, and since then has seen regular high-level political exchanges, and both sides remain committed to taking this partnership to even higher levels. The idea behind the trade deal is to eliminate or reduce tariffs on imports and exports between the two nations. This should make Indian products competitive in the UK and vice versa. Both nations desire to increase their trade to USD 120 billion by 2030. In the second leg of his visit, PM Modi will visit Maldives. (ANI)
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