Good governance is starting point of change, Modi tells business leaders in Brisbane

Brisbane: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday arrived in Sydney from Brisbane after attending the G20 Summit.

Earlier, in the morning Prime Minister Modi attended a breakfast meet hosted by Queensland Premier, Campbell Newman where he addressed business leaders and made a strong pitch for greater economic interaction.

"You will begin to find a difference in India... India has made its policies transparent and have made the procedures clearly defined and smooth," PM Modi said

PM Modi also said that Queensland can be an important partner in India's development.

"Government is focused on eliminating unnecessary laws and regulations, making processes easier and shorter, ensuring that our government is more transparent," the PM said at the business meet.

Among Indian business leaders, industrialists Anand Mahindra and Gautam Adani were present at the meet.

Besides attending the two-day G-20 Summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled a statue of Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi on Brisbane's Roma Street Parkland. and met a host of G-20 leaders. Later, Queensland Premier Campbell Newman and Brisbane Mayor Graham Quirk had hosted a reception for Prime Minister Modi at the City Hall here.

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Following his Sydney visit, Prime Minister Modi will then travel to Canberra and address the special joint sitting of the Australian Parliament on November 18. He will also address an Indian community event in Melbourne before travelling to Fiji.

Modi, who is the first prime minister to visit Australia in 28 years after Rajiv Gandhi, left for Sydney on the second leg of his four-city tour of this country. He will be on a whirlwind six-hour visit to Sydney before proceeding to Canberra tonight and later to Melbourne.

"Modi fever grips Sydney," the Canberra Times said yesterday in a headline while carrying a report on its online edition. "The city will get a dose of Modi-mania when the Indian Prime Minister makes a quick-fire, high-energy visit," it said.

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More than 16,000 members of the Indian diaspora will pack Allphones Arena at Olympic Park to salute Modi at a community reception. About 5,000 more are expected to be watching the evening event on big screens outside.

More than 200 Modi fans left Melbourne bound for Allphones Arena tonight on a specially a chartered train dubbed the "Modi Express."

Playground of the biggest of rock stars, the iconic Madison Square Garden (MSG) arena in New York erupted in rapturous applause to the words of Prime Minister on September 29 during his visit to the US.

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Packed to the capacity with around 20,000 NRIs, the MSG in downtown Manhattan reverberated with chants of "Modi Modi" much before the Prime Minister arrived.

Tickets for the event were sold out while hundreds others waited in front of a giant screen at the Times Square to hear Modi speak.