Above: New Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Trinidad Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has extended congratulations to Narendra Modi on his being sworn in as the new Prime Minister of India.

Modi was sworn in as Prime Minister on Monday in Delhi following his electoral victory last week.

“The unity shown as Mr Modi took the oath before thousands of guests, including his counterpart from rival Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif is heart-warming, as it is the first time since the two countries won independence in 1947 that a Prime Minister from one state has attended such a ceremony in the other,” Persad-Bissessar said in a statement.

Trinidad and Tobago and India have long held diplomatic and cultural ties, in large part due to Trinidad’s large ethnic Indian population.

Persad-Bissessar made an official visit to India in January 2012, and her government has been pushing to deepen economic and political ties with the country, including a bid to court tourists from that country.

The Prime Minister said she hoped the two countries would continue to share “friendly and mutually beneficial relations that exist between our two great nations” during Modi’s tenure.