Nobel laureate Anton Zeilinger lauds 'spiritual person' PM Modi, says 'more world leaders should...'

Austrian physicist and Nobel laureate Anton Zeilinger, who met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Vienna on Wednesday, said he experienced the Indian prime minister “as a very spiritual person”. "I think this is a feature which more leaders in the world should have today," Zeilinger said after the meeting.

Zeilinger, a prominent quantum physicist in the world, also said he had a "very pleasant discussion" with PM Modi.

"We discussed spiritual things, we talked about possibilities of quantum information, quantum technology, and about the basic fundamental ideas of quantum physics," he said.

Zeilinger also lauded PM Modi's vision of "unleashing India's entrepreneurial energy". "The point is that you support the gifted young people to follow their own ideas and from them the really new ideas come. That is something which can happen in every country, certainly in India because of its ‘gigantic spiritual’ history," the physicist observed.

PM Modi also met Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen in Vienna and the two leaders discussed ways to further expand bilateral cooperation in several sectors, including environment and combating climate change.

"Had a very good meeting with Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen and discussed ways to expand India-Austria cooperation," PM Modi said in a post on X after the meeting. “They deliberated ways to strengthen India-Austria relations in a host of sectors,” the prime minister's office stated.

"The two leaders discussed bilateral and global issues. They also exchanged views on environmental sustainability, global warming and climate change action," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a post on X.

Meanwhile, President Van der Bellen thanked PM Modi for visiting Austria, saying the two countries have a long friendship and strong bilateral relations, especially in the economic area. "We now want to expand these further," he said in a series of posts on X.

PM Modi also interacted with business leaders from the two countries and invited Austrian companies to invest in India in infrastructure, energy, emerging technologies and other sectors.

(With inputs from news agency ANI)