PM Narendra Modi to visit France, Germany and Canada from April 9-16

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will embark on a visit to France, Germany and Canada from April 9 which will be packed with high-intensity political, social and economic engagements besides a New York's Madison Square-like event in Toronto.

Aimed at enhancing investments from these countries as well as technology sharing, Modi will hold talks with French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper during his eight- day visit which was part of India's "Link West" policy.

Modi will first travel to France on April 9 and from there he will leave for Germany on April 12. In Germany, Modi will attend the well-known trade fair "Hannover Messe 2015" where India is a partner country with Germany.

The government is aggressively pushing Prime Minister's pet 'Make in India' initiative in Hannover to make the country a manufacturing hub. Modi will also visit Berlin apart from Hannover.

On the third and final leg of the tour, he will visit Canada from April 14-16. It is understood that apart from Ottawa, the Prime Minister will travel to Toronto where a Madison Square-like event is planned by the Indian diaspora.

However, while making the announcement of the Prime Minister's visit, Spokesperson in the External Affairs Minister Syed Akbaruddin did not specify the cities Modi will be visiting other than the capitals.

"The Prime Minister will be visiting other cities than the capitals in these countries. We are still working on the programme for visits to these cities," he said.

When asked if there would be a Madison Square-like show, he said, "The Prime Minister loses no opportunity to engage with large number of Indians. So expect Prime Minister's engagements at different venues in accordance with what can be arranged by the local communities working with the missions there."

Canada is home to over one million Persons of Indian Origin with majority of PIOs live in Greater Toronto Area, Greater Vancouver Area, Montreal and Calgary. While the majority of them are from Punjab, other linguistic and ethnic groups of India are also represented in the diaspora.