Narendra Modi kickstarts his week-long visit to Ireland, US

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday kickstarted his week long visit to Ireland and the United States amid his confidence that his visit will help further deepen ties with these two countries.

"Working westward. PM Narendra Modi departs on a two-nation, three city visit to Ireland and the US, will address the UN," tweeted External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup.

Modi will hold talks with his Irish counterpart Enda Kenny and is also scheduled to interact with members of the Indian community in Ireland. Modi's day-long visit to Ireland will be the first by an Indian prime minister since Jawaharlal Nehru visited Dublin in 1956.

Modi will leave for New York in the evening where he will address a UN Sustainable Development Summit and participate in a Summit on peacekeeping being hosted by US President Barack Obama.

The Prime Minister will also be meeting several world leaders and have interactions with leading investors and financial sector firms. There will be a working dinner where major Fortune-500 companies will be present to deliberate on investment opportunities in India.

He will also travel to West Coast where he will visit Facebook Headquarters for a Townhall Q&A with its CEO Mark Zuckerberg. He will also visit Google campus and Tesla Motors.

In San Jose, he will interact with the Indian community on September 27.

"This visit seeks to build on the substantial ground covered during my last visit to USA and President Obama's visit to India early this year," he had said.

"I am sure my US visit will be fruitful and further deepen the bond between the world's oldest and largest democracies," he said.

Ahead of the visit, Modi said he was going to USA at a "historic moment" when the UN is celebrating its 70th anniversary.

"India attaches great importance to the United Nations. In July, I had written a letter to heads of governments of 193 nations outlining India's vision for UN agenda and reforms. I am glad that leaders of several nations wrote back appreciating our vision," he had said.

(With additional information from PTI)