india

Updated: May 31, 2019 14:55 IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi held bilateral talks with various heads of states on Friday, a day after taking over at a ceremony in Rashtrapati Bhavan, which was attended, among others, by several foreign dignitaries.

PM Modi’s first bilateral meeting, amongst the five scheduled for Friday, was with Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena at the Hyderabad House in Delhi, according to ANI.

The Prime Minister thanked President Sirisena for his gesture of attending the oath ceremony and also for his good wishes. He conveyed his government’s continued commitment to further foster friendly bilateral ties with Sri Lanka.

This comes after the Sri Lankan leader, along with representatives from fellow member-states of BIMSTEC, attended Modi’s swearing-in ceremony on Thursday.

The PM next met his Mauritian counterpart Pravind Jugnauth who extended his warm felicitations. PM Modi reiterated his commitment to further strengthening the fraternal and enduring bilateral ties between the two countries.

The PM met President of the Kyrgyz Republic, Sooronbay Sharipovich Jeenbekov, on Thursday, marking his first bilateral meeting as the Prime Minister for a second term right after the oath-taking ceremony.

After a massive mandate in the elections, Modi took oath as the Prime Minister for a second consecutive term, inducting confidant and BJP President Amit Shah into his Cabinet along with the surprise inclusion of former foreign secretary S Jaishankar. While he retained most of his earlier Cabinet ministers, seniors like Suresh Prabhu, Maneka Gandhi and Radha Mohan Singh were dropped.