India will soon be among the top three economies of the world, and its missions on artificial intelligence, semiconductor and quantum computing are becoming the new engines of growth, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said.

In an address at a gathering of the Indian diaspora on Thursday, Modi said India is a land of opportunities today, and the fruits of its growth and progress are reaching the “most needy”.

“For New India, even the sky is not the limit.”

Modi attended the event hours after landing in Trinidad and Tobago in the second leg of his five-nation tour. It is the first bilateral visit by an Indian prime minister to this Caribbean island nation since 1999.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, members of her cabinet, lawmakers and several other dignitaries were among over 4,000 people who attended the event.

In his remarks, Modi lavished praise on the Indian community in Trinidad and Tobago, and said: “They left their soil, but not their soul.”

“They left the Ganga and Yamuna behind but carried the Ramayan in their hearts. They left their soil, but not their soul. They were not just migrants. They were messengers of a timeless civilisation,” he said.