VP Venkaiah Naidu represents India at WWI centenary commemoration in Paris

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, who is on a three-day visit to Paris, represented India at the Armistice of World War I centenary commemoration in Paris yesterday. Armistice Day marks the 100 years since the end of World War One on 11 November 1918. Around 70 leaders including US President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel participated in the event in the French Capital.

Chiefs of international bodies, including United Nations and International Monetary Fund also attended the ceremony to commemorate the Armistice of First World War.

To mark the occasion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reiterated India's commitment towards world peace and pledged to work to further an atmosphere



of harmony and brotherhood so that the trail of death and destruction caused by wars does not occur.

In his message, Mr Modi remembered the brave soldiers who fought in the first World War. He said, it was a war in which India was not directly involved yet its soldiers fought world over, just for the cause of peace. 

The Prime Minister said, he has had the honour of paying tributes at the Neuve-Chapelle Memorial in France and at the memorial in Israel's Haifa, places associated with India's role in the First World War. He recalled paying tributes at the Teen Murti-Haifa Chowk in Delhi with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during Mr Netanyahu's visit to India.