PM Modi to meet Prez Trump, visit expected to give further momentum to Indo-US ties

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will pay a two-day working visit to the US starting Wednesday and hold a bilateral meeting with President Donald Trump, with New Delhi saying it will give further direction and momentum to this “important partnership”.

Modi, who is currently visiting France at the invitation of President Emmanuel Macron, would be among the first few world leaders to visit the United States following the January 20 inauguration after Trump’s victory in the US elections last November.

The visit will provide a “valuable opportunity” to engage the new administration in all areas of mutual interest, senior officials said.

The prime minister’s visit to the US at the invitation of President Trump shows the “importance of India-US partnership and is also reflective of the bipartisan support that this partnership enjoys in the US”, Foreign Secretary said Vikram Misri said here in a briefing on February 7.

Modi will also interact with business leaders and members of the Indian community in the US.

PM Modi will hold a bilateral meeting with President Trump in both restricted and delegation-level formats, he said.

A range of bilateral issues are expected to be on the table besides, besides discussions on regional and international situation.

“There is an obvious convergence of interests between the two countries in a number of areas — trade, investment, technology, defence cooperation, counterterrorism, Indo-Pacific security, and of course, people-to-people relations,” the FS said in the briefing.

The visit is also expected to boost people-to-people ties between India and the US.

“The 5.4 million-strong Indian community in the US and the more than 3,50,000 students from India who are pursuing studies in universities strengthen this bond immeasurably,” Misri said.

“The prime minister’s visit to the United States will give further direction and momentum to this important partnership. We expect a joint statement to be adopted at the end of the visit and will share that in due course,” the foreign secretary said.

This will be Modi’s first visit since the inauguration of the second presidential term of Trump on January 20.

“After President Trump’s inauguration, the prime minister called to wish him, and it was on that occasion they agreed to meet very soon, and that is the promise and the commitment that is now unfolding,” he said.