Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday reiterated India's previous standing of supporting dialogue and diplomacy and said India does not believe war to be a solution. PM Modi was speaking at a press briefing after holding biltareral talks with his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk. "India firmly believes that no problem can be solved on the battlefield.
The loss of innocent lives in any crisis has become the biggest challenge for the entire humanity. We support dialogue and diplomacy for the early restoration of peace and stability. For this, India is ready to provide all possible cooperation along with its friendly countries," he said.
The prime minister's comments came ahead of his first visit to war-torn Ukraine on Friday by the invite of Ukrainian President Zelenskyy.PM Modi also thanked PM Tusk for playing a crucial role in facilitating the evacuation of Indian students from Ukraine during the initial months of the start of the its war with Russia in 2022. "I thank PM Tusk for warm welcome, gracious hospitality and friendly words in the beautiful city of Warsaw.
You have been a close friend of India since a long time; you have played a crucial role in strengthening the friendship between India and Poland. Today is crucial day in the relations between India and Poland , today, after 45 years, any Indian PM has visited Poland," he said in the joint press conference. "The generosity that you showed to rescue Indian students during the Ukraine conflict in 2022, we Indians will never forget that.
We are celebrating the 70th anniversary of our diplomatic relations; on this occasion, we have decided to transform the relations into strategic partnership. The relations between India and Poland are based on shared values like democracy and rule of law," he added. He further said that India and Poland will work on strengthening its defence cooperation.
Prime Minister is on a 2-day visit to Poland where he received a raucous welcome from the India diaspora as well as a ceremonial welcome from the Chancellery in Warsaw. This marked the first visit by an Indian prime minister to the European country in 54 year. (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel ).
