PM Modi's 5-nation tour: 5 key highlights

One of the major focus areas of the tour is gathering support for India's bid for NSG membership

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Switzerland today on the third leg of his five-nation tour. 

The tour, which began with the prime minister visiting Afghanistan on Saturday, followed by a two-day visit to Qatar, will now see him engage with leaders in Switzerland, the US and Mexico.

"From our immediate neighbourhood to our trans-Atlantic partners. PM @narendramodi emplanes for a 5 nation tour," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup had tweeted along with a photograph of Modi leaving for the five-day trip.

5 key issues related to the tour: 

1) Following up Iran with Afghanistan: Modi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani inaugurated a landmark dam built by India in the Herat province on Saturday. The Afghan-India Friendship Dam, earlier known as Salma Dam, on river Chist-e-Sharif in western Herat, will irrigate 75,000-hectare land and generate 42-Mw power.

Afghanistan also conferred the country's highest civilian honour – the Amir Amanullah Khan award – on the prime minister. 

During the prime minister's visit to Iran last month, a trilateral agreement was signed between India, Afghanistan and Iran for a trade treaty to develop the Chabahar port. 

2) Seeking investment in infrastructure sector: During the prime minister's visit to Doha, India and Qatar signed seven agreements.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed with the Qatar Investment Authority for facilitating Qatari investment in the Rs 40,000-crore National Investment and Infrastructure Fund.

An MoU signed between India's Finance Intelligence Unit and the Qatar Financial Information Unit would help in tracking money flow and investment from Qatar to India. It would also help authorities to safeguard against money laundering, terrorism financing and other economic offences.

An agreement was also signed between the two countries on cooperation and mutual assistance in custom matters besides an MoU on cooperation in tourism.

3) Swiss support for NSG membership and the black money issue: Modi is likely to seek the support of Switzerland for India's membership to the 48-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). 

Additionally, the prime minister is likely to raise the issue of black money stashed by Indians in Swiss banks.

Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar said that India has already been in touch with the Swiss government under the double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA) mandate and added that India hoped "to engage as early as possible in the automatic exchange of information with Switzerland".

4) Back to the US: Modi is scheduled to arrive in Washington DC on June 6 on a three-day visit. This will be his fourth visit to the US.

The prime minister will address a joint session of the US Congress on June 8. He will only be the fifth Indian prime minister to do so.

"The visit will highlight the deepening of the US-India relationship in key areas since the President's (Barrack Obama) visit to New Delhi in January 2015," the White House said.

"Among the issues that the President looks forward to discussing are progress made on climate change and clean energy partnership, security and defence cooperation, and economic growth priorities," added the statement.

Endorsing India's stand, the United States has already said that India meets the missile technology control regime requirements and is ready for entry into the NSG.

5) Smoothing things over with Mexico: Apart from Switzerland, Mexico has also raised concerns on India’s membership to the NSG. 

With the NSG meeting on June 9 and 10 in Vienna to discuss new applicants, the prime minister extended his multi-nation visit by adding two more countries – Switzerland and Mexico – in his travel agenda.

The prime minister will address Mexico's concerns on the matter and get it onboard. 

India's application to the group was submitted on May 12.