Modi meets German Chancellor (Lead)

Berlin May 29 (IANS) Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday attended a private dinner hosted by German Chancellor Angela Merkel soon after he arrived in Berlin on a two-day visit to Germany.

The bonds of a fruitful partnership. Chancellor Merkel receives PM @narendramodi at Schloss Meseberg before a private dinner External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay tweeted along with pictures of the two leaders. Schloss Meseberg some 65 km from Berlin is the country retreat of the German Chancellor and the official state guest house of the German government. Earlier on Monday Modi arrived in Berlin on the first leg of his six-day four-nation tour of Europe. Modi is accompanied by Minister for Science and Technology Harsh Vardhan Minister of State for New and Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Seetharaman and Minister of State for External Affairs M.J. Akbar. On Tuesday Modi and Merkel will head the fourth round of the biannual Inter-Governmental Consultations. Germany is the only country with which India has such an arrangement. Both the leaders will then address the India-Germany Business Summit. Later Modi will call on President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. From Germany Modi will travel to Spain Russia and France. --IANS ab/vd