Modi visits Ireland

“From India to Ireland ..strengthening ties and deepening cooperation,“ Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted on landing in Dublin on Wednesday .

Seeking Ireland's support for India's membership to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council, he reaffirmed New Delhi's commitment to “non-proliferation“.

Addressing the media after his talks with Enda Kenny , Modi said India and Ireland share much in common, a shared colonial history and an important Constitutional bond in the form of Directive Principles, which the Indian Constitution-framers borrowed from the Irish constitution.“Our economic partnership can have a strong technology focus ­ IT, biotechnology & pharma, agricultural and clean energy ,“ the PM said in a tweet.

“In the 30th anniversary year of the Kanishka tragedy , we thank you once again for the memorial that honours them,“ he said, adding that his conversations with Kenny focused on terrorism, radicalization and the sit uation in Europe and Asia.

After a working lunch with the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Enda Kenny , PM gave Kenny two specially selected gifts, honouring Irish officials who played a signature role in India's history . These were reproductions of manuscripts from the National Archives. The PM tweeted “The selection is connected with Irish officials, Mr. Thomas Oldham & Sir George Abraham Grierson, recognising their contribution to India Thomas Oldham was appointed geo logical surveyor in 1850. His joining day in 1851 is marked as foundation day of Geological Survey of India Mr. Oldham conducted 1st systemic coal mapping of India & later initiated mapping of other minerals. He wrote a lot about fossils in India. Sir George A Grierson conducted the 1st linguistic survey of India, which was published over several years between 1903 to 1928.“

Relations between India and Ireland date back to before independence with one of the more famous interactions between Rabindranath Tagore and W B Yeats.

The PM made a pitch to revive the flagging talks on the India-EU FTA by saying, “Greater sensitivity of the European Union to India's commercial interests and challenges will help us resume discussions on India-EU Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement ... I also hope that Ireland's visa policy will be sensitive to the requirements of India's Information Technology firms. I also conveyed our interest in concluding a social security agreement, which will be of great help to both countries.“