World leaders hail Modi's victory; vow to further strengthen ties
Modi is set to take charge as prime minister on Sunday for a third consecutive term with the BJP-led NDA winning 293 seats in the Lok Sabha polls
Canberra, Jun 6 (PTI) Congratulatory messages continued to pour in for Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his electoral victory, with leaders around the world, including from Australia, Brazil New Zealand and the Philippines, expressing hope to further strengthen ties with India under him.
Modi is all set to take charge as the prime minister on Sunday for a historic third consecutive term with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) winning 293 seats in the Lok Sabha polls.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spoke with Modi to congratulate him on his election victory.
"Australia and India are close friends, with strong strategic, economic and cultural ties. We look forward to growing our partnership in 2024 and beyond," he said.
Philippines President Bongbong Marcos sent warmest congratulations to Modi for securing a fresh mandate.
"The last decade has shown India as a sincere friend to the Philippines & I look forward to the further strengthening of our bilateral and regional partnership in the years ahead," he said.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva wished Modi a very successful third term in promoting sustainable development, combating inequalities and strengthening cooperation between our countries.
"Brazil and India are allies in confronting injustices in the international order and in the fight against hunger and poverty. May we meet at the G20 and IBSA Summits here in Brazil and continue working together," he posted on X.
"Warm congratulations to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Indian election results. Wonderful to see the celebration of democracy in the world’s largest voting exercise. I look forward to working with India’s Government to achieve a meaningful lift in New Zealand-India ties," New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada stands ready to work with the Prime Modi-led government to advance the bilateral relationship anchored to human rights, diversity and the rule of law, as he congratulated the Indian leader on his counterpart on his electoral victory.
“Congratulations to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his electoral victory," Trudeau wrote on X.
"Canada stands ready to work with his government to advance the relationship between our nations’ peoples— anchored to human rights, diversity, and the rule of law," he said.
Bilateral ties came under severe strain following Trudeau's allegations in September last year of the "potential" involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada.
India has dismissed Trudeau's charges as "absurd" and "motivated." Estonia Prime Minister Kaja Kallas in her message on Modi's victory said: " Happy to see that in recent years bilateral relations between #Estonia and #India have expanded. Looking forward to further cooperation in the digital and cyber sphere and strengthening ties between industry." Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission congratulated the people of India and Modi.
"As the EU moves into its own elections, we celebrate the voice of the people in our democracies, the two biggest in the world. I look forward to a continued fruitful partnership between the EU and India," she said.
Describing India's general elections as "a triumph of democracy", Israel's former Prime Minister and current Leader of the Opposition, Yair Lapid, congratulated Modi on his victory on Thursday expressing hopes that the ties between his country and India will "go from strength to strength".
"India held the world’s largest election and it was a triumph of democracy", Lapid, a former scribe, posted on social media platform X, formerly Twitter. "Congratulations to @narendramodi on his victory. I am sure that under his leadership relations between India and Israel will continue to go from strength to strength," he added.
Lapid was the Prime Minister of Israel in July 2022 when the I2U2 leaders' summit was held announcing major joint projects.
I2Us, a unique partnership between India, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and the United States, was formed to identify bankable projects and initiatives to tackle some of the greatest challenges confronting the world, with a particular focus on joint investments and new initiatives in water, energy, transportation, space, health, food security, and technology. PTI