Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited 23 countries and spent 42 days abroad during 11 foreign trips in 2025. These visits gave new impetus to India’s diplomacy with a focus on trade agreements, export markets and scarce mineral supplies.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi returned to India on December 18 after completing a four-day visit to Jordan, Ethiopia and Oman. This trip was his last foreign trip of 2025. The most important highlight of this visit was the signing of Free Trade Agreement and Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between India and Oman. These agreements are being considered a big step in terms of India’s economic diplomacy.
Visited 23 countries in one year
With this important visit, Prime Minister Modi completed a total of 11 foreign trips in 2025, visiting 23 countries. According to the data available on the website of the Ministry of External Affairs and the Prime Minister’s Office, the Prime Minister has spent a total of 42 days abroad so far this year. This is the first time after Covid that the Prime Minister has visited such a large number of countries in a single calendar year.
Busiest foreign calendar since 2015
This is the first time since 2015 that Prime Minister Modi has visited the maximum number of countries in a calendar year. 2015 has been considered his most active foreign touring year so far. That year he visited 28 countries in 13 foreign trips. He visited countries like Russia and France twice. That year the Prime Minister spent a total of 54 days abroad. 2025 may have lagged behind in the number of days, but this year is also considered very important in terms of the number of countries and strategic importance.
Speed of travels increased after Operation Sindoor
In 2025, there was an increase in the Prime Minister’s foreign visits after May. Especially after Operation Sindoor, his travels became more active. A major objective of these tours was to find new options for supply of rare minerals. After China banned the export of these minerals, it became a strategic need for India to find alternative sources. Many of the Prime Minister’s visits were focused in this direction.
Search for export markets became priority
Another important reason for the Prime Minister’s foreign visits was related to India’s exports. After the US imposed heavy duties on Indian goods, India needed to diversify its exports. In such a situation, it became necessary to strengthen trade relations with the countries of Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Prime Minister Modi’s visits helped India access new markets.
Focus on foreign policy due to less elections
There was also an important domestic reason behind the Prime Minister’s more foreign tours. Like the year 2015, the number of elections in the country remained less in 2025 also. This year, assembly elections were held only in Delhi and Bihar. Due to this, the Prime Minister spent relatively less time in election campaign and he could concentrate more on foreign policy. On the contrary, along with the Lok Sabha elections in 2024, assembly elections were also held in Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Haryana and Maharashtra. That year the Prime Minister had limited time to travel abroad.
International tour increased compared to 2024
In 2024, Prime Minister Modi visited 16 countries during 11 foreign trips and spent a total of 31 days abroad. In 2025, not only did the number of countries increase, but the number of days spent abroad also increased. It is clear from this that India’s foreign policy has been more active and multidimensional in the current year.
Impact of Covid in second term
The second term of Prime Minister Modi started in 2019. During this tenure, foreign trips were less as compared to the first tenure. The biggest reason for this was the Covid-19 pandemic. Due to global travel restrictions and strict protocols, international movement remained extremely limited for almost two years.
Journey from 2020 to 2022
In 2020, the most serious year of Covid, Prime Minister Modi did not travel abroad. When the situation became somewhat normal in 2021, he made three foreign trips and visited four countries. In 2022, the Prime Minister went on seven foreign visits, which included 10 countries. After this, international tours gradually started gaining momentum again.
Comments are closed.