PM Narendra Modi reaches Berlin en route to Brazil for the 2014 BRICS Summit.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today left for Brazil from Berlin for a meeting of the BRICS group of emerging powers that will address regional crises and security threats to restore a climate of peace while advancing global economic stability.
The Prime Minister, who left Delhi on Sunday morning, had landed in Berlin the same evening for an overnight stopover.
Indian Prime Ministers usually transit through Frankfurt for further journeys across the Atlantic. However, Berlin was preferred to Frankfurt for a transit halt in this case as Mr Modi was reportedly keen to meet Ms Merkel on his stopover and the German Ambassador in India is believed to have pushed for the meeting too. But Germany had reportedly not confirmed a meeting between the two leaders.
In a departure statement in New Delhi on Sunday, the Prime Minister said, "India looks forward to the BRICS initiative for setting up the
New Development Bank and Contingent Reserve Arrangement."
He is visiting Brazil at the invitation of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff to attend the sixth BRICS Summit being held in Fortaleza and Brasilia on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Prime Minister is accompanied by a high-level delegation that includes Minister of State for Finance Nirmala Sitharaman, National Security Adviser AK Doval, Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh and Finance Secretary Arvind Mayaram.