FRIENDSHIP COLLAR
$50mn-deal signed during Modi’s historic visit to Palestine
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, right, decorates Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the Grand Collar of the State of Palestine medal, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, on Saturday.
Ramallah, Feb. 10: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday met Mahmoud Abbas on a historic visit to Palestine during which the Palestinian President sought India’s support for a multi-country mechanism to achieve a “just and desired peace” with Israel in accordance with the two-state solution.
President Abbas accorded a red carpet welcome to Mr Modi, the first Indian Prime Minister to make an official visit to Palestine, in an official ceremony at the presidential compound, also known as Muqata’a, in Ramallah — the Palestinian seat of government.
They discussed the full range of India-Palestine ties following which the two sides signed six agreements worth around $50 million that includes setting up of a $30 million super speciality hospital in Beit Sahur.
Three agreements in the education sector worth $ five million, one MoU for procurement of equipment and machinery for the National Printing Press and one for construction of a centre for empowering women were also signed.
At a joint press statement with Mr Modi, President Abbas acknowledged that the Indian leadership has always stood by peace in Palestine. Abbas said he had “fruitful and constructive” talks with Prime Minister Modi and he updated the Indian leader on the overall developing situation in Palestine and in the region.
“We have never rejected negotiations; we have been and are still ready for negotiations,” he said.
Abbas said the formation of a multi-lateral mechanism that is produced by an international peace convention is the most ideal way to broker negotiations with Israel, which is India’s strategic partner and among its top arms suppliers.
“We rely on India’s role as an international voice of great standing and weigh through its historical role in the Non-Aligned Movement and in all international forum and its increasingly growing power on the strategic and economic levels, in a way that is conducive to just and desired peace in our region,” President Abbas said.
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