Narendra Modi, Prime Minister (PM) of India, was on a official visit to Nigeria, Brazil, and Guyana from 16th to 21st November 2024 with an aim to strengthen the diplomatic and economic ties with key global partners.
Highlights of PM Modi’s visit to Nigeria:
PM Modi visited Nigeria from 16th to 17th November 2024 at the invitation of Nigerian President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
- This was the first visit by a PM of India to Nigeria in 17 years since the establishment of their relations in 2007.
- The tow day visit involved discussions aimed at enhancing bilateral cooperation, particularly in the fields of economic development, energy, and defense and agreed to collaborate towards development of the Global South.
- Additionally, India pledged 20 tons of humanitarian aid to support Nigeria’s flood relief efforts.
PM Conferred with the “Grand Commander of the Order of Niger”
PM Modi was awarded with the Grand Commander of the Order of Niger (GCON) on 17th November 2024 in a ceremony at the State House by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, H.E. Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
- The award was given for his statesmanship and extraordinary contribution to enhance India-Nigeria ties and to acknowledge his governance in boosting unity, peace and shared prosperity in India.
- PM Modi is the first foreign leader to be conferred with this award since 1969.
- Earlier in 1969, Queen Elizabeth was awarded the GCON.
Highlights of PM Modi’s visit to Brazil:
PM visited Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on 18th November 2024 to participate in the G20(Group of 20) Summit, hosted by Brazilian President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva.
- At the event, PM Modi presented India’s perspective on pressing global issues build on the outcomes from the G20 New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration and Voice of the Global South Summits, which were hosted by India in the past two years.
- Several bilateral meetings with Brazil, Italy, Indonesia and Portugal, Norway, Chile, Argentina, Egypt, South Korea were also held to deepen ties in sectors such as defence, security, trade and technology.
Highlights of PM Modi’s visit to Guyana:
PM Modi ended his tour with his visit to Guyana from 19th to 21st November 2024 at the invitation of President of Guyana, Mohamed Irfaan Ali.
- This was the first visit by an Indian PM to Guyana in 56 years.
- The visit aimed to deepen the ties between India and Guyana and explore regional partnerships.
India and Guyana sign 10 agreements in various sectors
India and Guyana signed 10 Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Guyana that covered various sectors. The agreements are –
i.An MoU on Cooperation in the Hydrocarbons Sector was signed to make joint efforts in crude sourcing, natural gas collaboration, and infrastructure development thus enhancing capacity building and skills sharing across the hydrocarbon value chain.
ii.An MoU on Bilateral Cooperation in Agriculture and Allied Sectorswas signed with an aim to exchange scientific materials and expertise to boost agricultural development.
iii. An agreement on Cultural Exchange Programme (2024-2027) was signed to cooperate in theatre, music, fine arts, literature, libraries, and museums.
iv.Under the health sector, agreement was made on the Recognition of Indian Pharmacopoeia Regulation to improve medicine regulation.
v.The two countries also agreed to implement the Janaushadhi Scheme (PMBJP) for supplying affordable medicines to Caribbean Community (CARICOM)countries.
vi.An agreement was made in the pharmaceutical and medical sectors in order to regulate raw materials, biological products, medical devices, and cosmetics.
vii.An INDIA STACK MoU was signed to boost for collaboration in digital transformation through capacity building, training programs, and pilot projects.
viii.Moreover, National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) International Payments Ltd (NIPL) and Guyana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs agreed to establish a UPI-like real-time payment system to promote digital transactions in the region.
ix.An agreement was signed between Prasar Bharati and Guyana’s National Communications Network to exchange programs in culture, education, science, and sports.
x.Additionally, under the defense sector, Guyana’s National Defence Institute (NDI) and India’s Rashtriya Raksha University (RRU) agreed to collaborate to enhance education, research, and training in national security and defence studies.
PM Modi and President of Guyana, take part in the ‘Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam’ movement
PM Modi and President of Guyana, Dr. Irfaan Ali planted a sapling under the ‘Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam’ movement in Georgetown, Guyana showing a shared commitment towards sustainability.
- Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam is a special country-wide Tree Plantation Campaign launched on World Environment Day (5th June, 2024) with an aim to plant a tree as a mark of love, respect and honour for their mother and also be committed to protect trees and Mother Earth.
PM Modi conferred with honors from Guyana, Barbados and Dominica
i.PM Modi was conferred with Guyana’s highest civilian honor, ‘The Order of Excellence’, by President Mohamed Irfaan Ali at a ceremony on 20th November 2024 for his exceptional service to the global community, statesmanship and contribution in deepening India-Guyana relations
- PM Modi only the fourth foreign leader to be conferred with the highest National award of Guyana.
ii.PM Modi was conferred with the Honorary Order of Freedom of Barbados Award by the PM Mia Amor Mottley of Barbados for acknowledging his leadership and contributions.
iii. The Commonwealth of Dominica has conferred its highest national honour, the Dominica Award of Honour, upon PM Narendra Modi and was presented by the President Sylvanie Burton.
- The award was given to recognize his efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic, his dedication to strengthening the relationship between India and Dominica and India’s support for Dominica in healthcare, education and information technology.
iv.The number of international honors conferred on PM Modi now stands at 19 after receiving the three awards.
PM Modi presented with ‘Key to the City’ of Georgetown, Guyana
PM Modi was welcomed by President of Guyana Irfaan Ali, PM of Grenada Dickon Mitchell, the PM of Barbados Mia Mottley along with four ministers from Guyana in Georgetown.
- Upon his arrival, PM Modi was handed over the ‘Key to the City of Georgetown’ as a tribute to the close relations of India and Guyana.
PM Modi co-chaired the 2nd India-CARICOM Summit
i.PM Modi and the PM of Grenada, Dickon Mitchell who is the current CARICOM Chair, chaired the 2nd India-CARICOM Summit in Georgetown on 20th November 2024.
- The first India-CARICOM Summit was held in 2019 in New York.
ii.The summit involved discussions to strengthen ties in areas such as economic cooperation, agriculture and food security, health and pharmaceuticals, and science and innovations.
iii.During the summit, PM Modi proposed 7 key pillars to strengthen ties between India and CARICOM.
- The seven pillars also form the acronym C-A-R-I-C-O-M. They are Capacity Building, Agriculture and Food Security, Renewable Energy and Climate Change, Innovation, Technology and Trade, Cricket and Culture, Ocean Economy and Medicine and Healthcare.
iv.The seven initiatives announced by India are as follows –
- PM announced 1000 more Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme (ITEC) slots for CARICOM countries over the next five years in relation to capacity building.
- India would be sharing its expertise with embracing technology in the agriculture domain – drones, digital farming, farm mechanization and soil testing in the area of food security.
- In the fields of renewable energy and climate change, PM asked the CARICOM members to join the global initiatives led by India such as the International Solar Alliance, Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, Mission Lifestyle for the Environment (LiFE) and Global Biofuel Alliance.
- The PM offered India’s Digital Public Infrastructure, cloud-based Digi locker and UPI models to the CARICOM countries to boost public service delivery and bring about transformative changes brought about by innovation, technology and trade in India.
- He also announced that India will train 11 young women cricketers from each of the CARICOM countries and proposed to organize “Days of Indian Culture” in member countries in 2025 to strengthen people-to-people ties.
- India would also be with CARICOM members on maritime domain mapping and hydrography in the Caribbean Sea in order to ocean economy and maritime security.
- He also offered India’s framework of making available generic medicine through the Jan Aushadhi Kendras and announced sending Yoga experts for promoting the e- health and wellbeing of the people of CARICOM.
v.The 3rd India-CARICOMSummit would be hosted in India.
Note
i.Caricom is a grouping of 21 countries – 15 member states and six associate members.
ii.Its objective is to promote economic integration and cooperation among its members, ensure that the benefits of integration are equally shared among all.
iii.The organisation was established in 1973.
PM Modi Presented Inique Gifts to Leaders
i.PM Modi presented the global leaders with unique gifts from India during the three-nation visit.
- The gifts were from all corners of the country — 8 from Maharashtra, 5 from Jammu & Kashmir (J&K), 3 each from Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan, 2 from Jharkhand and 1 each from Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh (UP), Bihar, Odisha and Ladakh.
ii.The gifts from Maharashtra included Silofar panchamrit kalash (pot) from Kolhapur was given to the Nigerian President Bola Tinubu and Warli paintings to the Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
iii.Natural rough Amethyst with silver camel head on top from Pune was given to Australian PM Anthony Albanese and a hand-carved silver chess set to the Portugal PM Luís Montenegro.
- Modi also gifted an exquisite silver candle stand to the Italy PM Giorgia Meloni and hand-engraved silver fruit bowl to the CARICOM secretary general Carla Barnett.
iv.He also gifted a pair of paper-mâché gold work vases from J&K to the UK PM Keir Starmer, Pashmina shawl in papier mache box to the First Lady of Guyana and Kashmir saffron in a customized gift hamper to CARICOM country leaders.
