Team News Riveting
Moscow, July 9
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been awarded Russia’s most prestigious civilian honour, the Order of St. Andrew the Apostle the First-Called.
“This is an honor that is shared by the 1.4 billion people in India,” Narendra Modi said. Being awarded Russia’s highest order is token of mutual trust, friendship, he added.
Modi, who is on an official visit to Moscow, has described his being awarded Russia’s Order of St. Andrew the Apostle the First-Called as a show of mutual trust and friendship between the two countries.
“I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude for the honor I have been given,” he said at the awarding ceremony. “This order is not mine alone. This is an honor that is shared by the 1.4 billion people in India. This is a token of centuries-long friendship and mutual trust between India and Russia.”
“This is also a token of our especially privileged strategic partnership,” he stressed.
Russian President Vladimir Putin too believed that Moscow and New Delhi maintain a privileged strategic partnership. “Our countries have enjoyed decades of a good friendship,” Putin said at talks with visiting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Kremlin. “Today, our relations have the nature of a privileged strategic partnership,” he added.
The Russian leader expressed satisfaction with growing trade between the two countries which he said saw a 66 per cent increase last year “and rose by another 20% in the first quarter of this year.”
Putin once again congratulated Modi on his re-election as Indian premier as he noted that Modi had arrived in Russia for his first official foreign visit after he was sworn in for another term at the helm of the government following the Indian general election last month.
Earlier, Modi said India favoured resolving the Ukraine conflict peacefully and is ready to contribute to the process, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said ahead of official talks between the Russian and Indian delegations at the Kremlin.
“We are ready to make any contribution to resolving” the conflict, Modi said as he recounted that at an informal meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday the two leaders “agreed that peace should be established as soon as possible.”
According to Modi, India is confident that any conflicts globally can only be resolved by peaceful means and through dialogue. “Rockets, shells or guns cannot help in solving issues or establishing peace. We are confident that only a peaceful path of dialogue can help. There should be dialogue,” he emphasized.
“A bright future of next generations needs peace,” the Indian premier concluded.
