New Delhi: Nobel-winning economist Paul Romer told Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday that India could show the world the road ahead through programmes like the unique identification number Aadhaar, while lauding other digital initiatives.
Modi met the former Chief Economist of the World Bank and several other dignitaries on the first day of his state visit to the USA, among whom were entrepreneurs, scientists, and artists as well as Tesla and Twitter chief Elon Musk.
According to Ministry of External Affairs’ spokesperson Arindam Bagchi, Modi’s meeting with Romer touched on discussions about India’s digital journey, Aadhaar and tools like Digilocker. They also discussed India’s initiatives for urban development.
Romer has in the past lauded India’s Aadhaar identification system, calling it the most-spohisticated system he had seen in an interview to Bloomberg.
Modi also met astrophysicist, author and science communicator Neil deGrasse Tyson, and talked of the importance of cultivating scientific temperament in the youth.
Tyson has published a number of books on astronomy such as Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Revolution. The PM spoke about India’s space exploration missions, as well as the possibility of collaborations between India and the US under India’s National Space Policy. After meeting the Prime Minister, Tyson said in an interview to PTI that “the potential of what India can accomplish knows no limit”.
During his interaction with billionaire American investor Ray Dalio, Modi invited him to further invest in India. He also mentioned to the founder of the biggest hedge-fund firm the reforms undertaken by the Indian government for economic growth.
Dalio has previously spoken of India’s growth trajectory, especially in the new world order. In the World Government Summit 2023 in Dubai, he said: “India will record the highest and fastest growth rate among all world economies.” After the meeting with Modi, Dalio was quoted as saying that India has a lot of potential, and a “radical reformer who can transform it”.
The PM met Padma-Shri awardee Bob Thurman for a conversation on Buddhist values as solutions to global challenges. He also spoke of India’s Buddhist connect and efforts to preserve Buddhist heritage.
Modi also met Twitter chairman and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who said he had an “excellent conversation”, adding Twitter has no choice but to follow the local government, when asked of ex-CEO Jack Dorsey’s allegations against the Indian government.
Apart from these personalities, Modi interacted with other experts in the fields of policy, health and academia.
After his meeting with policy makers including Michael Froman, the President of the Council on Foreign Relations, and Jeff Smith, the Director of the Asian Studies Center of the Heritage Foundation, he tweeted that he “talked about different aspects of policy making and global trends”.
He also tweeted about an “informative discussion with healthcare experts” and how he was offered “rich perspectives on how to augment healthcare capacities in India”.
Modi talked about the National Education policy of India in New York when he “held an extensive interaction with a group of academics” who told him how to “strengthen the education sector in India”. He tweeted about the meeting after it ended.
In this historic visit to the US, PM is set to lead International Yoga Day celebrations at the UN headquarters in New York on Wednesday, and then attend a state dinner hosted by Joe Biden and also address a joint session of the US Congress in Washington D.C.
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