NEW DELHI: Gujarat’s interests remain at the heart of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s foreign policy, even as he has relinquished the post of Chief Minister in 2014 after he led the BJP to form government at the Centre.
Prime Minister Modi has been true to his words in the diamond-trading Surat on Monday as he contended that his visit to Israel (first official announcement confirming his visit to the country) will further trade relations between the two countries. Surat is a diamond hub with 90 percent of the world’s rough diamonds being cut and polished here and Israel is amongst the biggest producer of cut diamonds.
"I am soon going to Israel, in fact I'm the first Prime Minister to go to Israel, and I'm going there on your behalf. You have trading relations with that country," said Modi during an event in Surat. Gujarat will be going to polls later this year.
Earlier as President Vladimir Putin had come to India in 2014, Prime Minister Modi had pushed for deal with Russia – the biggest producer of diamonds in the world. The deals have an impact on around half-a-million diamond workers in Surat.
In January this year immediately after attending the Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas in Bengaluru, Prime Minister Modi flew to Gandhinagar to inaugurate the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit. He received the Presidents of Kenya (Uhuru Kenyatta) and Rwanda (Paul Kagame) in Gandhinagar and both the Heads of State attended the event giving it much more international stature in comparison to the Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas and aid to the influx of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Apart from these Prime Ministers of Portugal (António Costa) and Serbia (Aleksandar Vučić), and Deputy PMs of Russia (Igor Ivanovich Shuvalov) and Poland (Mateusz Jakub Morawiecki) were also in attendance.
When asked about the beeline of the international dignitaries for Vibrant Gujarat in comparison to low attendance of foreign dignitaries, a Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) official told the Express: “It is unusual for the Prime Minister to receive state guests in cities other than the national capital. And by doing this of course the profile of Vibrant Gujarat does get elevated.”