NSW Premier Mike Baird met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a reception held for the Indian community of Australia in Homebush.
Baird met with Modi privately before the community reception, which was held at Sydney Olympic Park and attended by thousands of Indian Australians.
“It is a pleasure to be meeting with Indian Prime Minister, Modi in Sydney, especially as it is the first Prime Ministerial visit from India in 28 years,” Baird said.
“The diplomatic, economic and cultural ties between NSW and India are strong and on behalf of the NSW Government, I would like to warmly welcome Modi to our State”.
“The strength of the relationship between NSW and India was evident when the NSW Government lit up the sails of the Sydney Opera House as part of Deepavali celebrations last month”.
“Modi is known as India’s infrastructure Prime Minister who has outlined a trillion dollar plan to create a better India”.
“Like Modi, I am committed to making a real difference and my plan will aim to ensure we’re rebuilding NSW and making it a stronger and better State for all”.
“I will be promoting NSW’s strengths to identify areas where we can share knowledge with India to help realise each other’s bold plans for the future.
“More than 95,000 people living in NSW have Indian heritage and we greatly value the contributions this community has made to our multicultural society”.
“The sheer number of people, who have turned out to hear Modi, is a testament to his popularity and the belief and expectation the global Indian community has in him.
“A similar event held at Madison Square Garden in New York in September was attended by about 19,000 people and tonight’s event has attracted similar numbers,” Baird said.
