NEW DELHI (TIP): Gov. Greg Abbott met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for an hour and five minutes on Wednesday at Modi’s official residence.

Abbott later said the two leaders discussed numerous subjects, including defense, terrorism, energy, technology, trade and health care.

The Republican governor called it a “historic meeting.”

In Modi’s nearly four years in office, he had not met before Wednesday with a sitting U.S. governor, Abbott’s office has said.

“I just got through with a historic meeting with Prime Minister Modi here in New Delhi, getting to visit about an array of topics,” Abbott said at a gaggle with his traveling press pool, conducted across the road from the spacious grounds of Modi’s residence. The complex was heavily fortified, and security was tight.

“Frankly, the conversation was historic in the sense of the length of time,” Abbott said. “According to the diplomat in charge, it was the longest meeting that he’d had with a guest visitor from a foreign country like that.”

He was referring to Marykay L. Carlson, deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi.

“I was shocked” that Modi carved out so much time, Abbott said.

Until early this week, Abbott’s aides were unsure if the meeting would come off.

“You have a busy man who has a lot to do,” Abbott said of Modi.

He said the prime minister opened their talk by mentioning anxiety India felt for the people of Indian heritage who live in parts of Texas that were ravaged by Hurricane Harvey last August.

Modi spoke of “gratitude that he had for Texans’ doing such a great job of helping the Indian-American community in the region respond to the challenges they were facing.”

Abbott said he assured Modi, “We will take care of the Indian Americans.” In facing hardship, Texans and Indians exhibit “a similar resiliency,” he said.

As he has throughout his entire nine-day, business-recruitment trip, Abbott touted how India and Texas are connected not only because many Indians have emigrated to the state but also because the two places share many traits.

“We’re focused on the same concepts such as entrepreneurship … a vibrant, strong and growing economy … empowering the private sector … being democratic countries based on value systems,” Abbott said.