WEF 2018: PM Modi meets Swiss President Alain Berset at Davos

Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address 1500 delegates at the World Economic Forum welcome reception organised by India at the event's main venue - Congress Center in Davos.

PM Modi is the first Indian PM to make an appearance at the high-profile summit in 20 years.

PM Modi, who reached Switzerland to attend the summit a few hours ago, met with Swiss President Alain Bersetand. He is slated to give the keynote address at the summit on Tuesday at 10:30 GMT (3:45 pm) today.

"On reaching Davos, held talks with the President of the Swiss Confederation, Mr @alain_berset. We reviewed the scope of our bilateral cooperation and discussed ways to deepen it even further," Modi said in a tweet.

Berset said the discussions marked the meeting of the biggest and the oldest democracies in the world. Thanking Modi, the Swiss President said he would continue to strengthen "our relations" with India.

First engagement in snowing #Davos, PM @narendramodi met with Swiss President @alain_berset. Two leaders had productive discussions on steps to further deepen our bilateral cooperation built upon our shared values of democracy and diversity. #IndiaMeansBusiness," an external affairs ministry spokesperson said in a tweet.

Sources said the two leaders are also believed to have discussed the progress on automatic exchange of tax information.

On Tuesday, he will interact with global business community members, besides delivering his keynote address.

Minister will lead India's largest ever contingent of 130 participants, including five Union ministers and several industry leaders. The CEO delegation, led by apex industry body CII, will include Mukesh Ambani, Gautam Adani, Azim Premji, Rahul Bajaj, N Chandrasekaran, Chanda Kochhar, Uday Kotak and Ajay Singh, among others.

The prime minister had said in his departure statement that "India's engagement with the outside world in the recent years has become "truly and effectively multi- dimensional covering the political, economic, people to people, security and other spheres".

"At Davos, I look forward to sharing my vision for India's future engagement with the international community," he had said.

Meanwhile, Bollywood star Shah Rukh honoured at the welcome reception for World Economic Forum Summit 2018.

OneIndia News