When the Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer received the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Vienna in Austria on 10th July, 2024, the former warmly welcomed the visitor.
On Tuesday night, Mr. Modi arrived here from Moscow where he met Russian President Vladimir Putin during his two-day visit to Russia – the first by an Indian Prime Minister in more than four decades. The Indian leader said that he had “very productive” discussions with his Austrian counterpart about ongoing global crises including the conflict in Ukraine and developments in West Asia while also denying any suggestion that this could lead to war.
India’s role in Russia-Ukraine peace process more than important: Austrian Chancellor
Mr. Nehammer called India powerful and credit worthy country whose role matters when it comes to resolving Russia-Ukraine standoff and offered Austria as a diplomatic venue as it was neutral country.
“On our part we have had very intense talks about Russian aggression against Ukraine because for me as Federal Chancellor of Austria it is especially important to understand how India sees this and how Europe operates,” he noted.
“Our conversation was also focused on Middle East conflicts,” he added.
He stressed that having represented India as one of the founding members of BRICS at a Swiss peace summit over Russia-Ukraine last month should not be take lightly.
“Therefore, we have conversed about a greater commitment and the chances of bringing back the peace talks.” “We touched upon India’s special position in the Global South during our meeting with Prime Minister Modi. India is an important, influential and credit-worthy country. It is in this sense that India is the largest democracy globally. Consequently, when it comes to peace process and future peace summits, its role for Austria becomes more than crucial,” he stated.
Mr Modi on his part said he was happy that he got a chance to visit Austria at the start of his third term in office. “This visit of mine is both historic and special; after 41 years, no Indian PM has visited Austria.” According to him these shared values like democracy and rule of law are very solid base of relations between Austria and India. “Through mutual trust and shared interests we have strengthen our relationship,” he added.
“Modi further said, “we also agreed to transforming the United Nations as well as other international institutions to make them up-to-date”