- Tuesday, May 07, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIAN prime minister Narendra Modi is set to visit the US on Tuesday (21) in what marks his seventh trip to that country. This is his first foreign visit since he went to Bangladesh in March this year, his only trip abroad in the times of the pandemic.
The leader is expected to hold a series of back-to-back high-profile meetings during his visit to the US. As per a tentative schedule, Modi’s stay in the US will be between September 22 and 27 and he is likely to go to both Washington DC and New York.
Modi, who last went to the US in September 2019 and attended the ‘Howdy Modi‘ event in Houston, Texas, with former US president Donald Trump, will take part in the first in-person Quad summit, which will include leaders from the US, Japan and Australia, in Washington DC on September 24. Modi had earlier taken part in a virtual summit of the Quad that US president Joe Biden held in March, months after taking over the office.
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India and the US are expected to work on an ambitious agenda concerning the Indo-Pacific region apart from discussing the situation in Afghanistan where the Taliban have stormed back to power.
Afghanistan, climate among top agenda on Modi’s US trip
Modi will also address the General Debate of the 76th session of the United Nations Security Council in New York on September 25. Earlier, on September 23, Modi will meet top American CEOs, according to news agency Asian News International.
The Indian prime minister is also likely to meet US vice president Kamala Harris and Apple chief Tim Cook during his visit. He is also expected to meet his Japanese and Australian counterparts the same day.
Biden will be third US president who Modi will deal with during his premiership, after Barack Obama and Trump. While this will be Modi’s first in-person meeting with Biden since he won the US presidential election last year, the two were supposed to meet in the UK for the G7 summit in June but Modi had to cancel the trip due to the outbreak of a devastating second wave of the coronavirus pandemic in India.
Modi’s upcoming visit to the US is significant, especially when seen against the backdrop of the situation emerging in Afghanistan. This will also be his opportunity to establish relations with the new Democratic administration at the White House, particularly after his ‘abki baar Trump sarkar’ line (next time, Trump administration again) during the 2019 visit had not gone down well with the Democratic establishment.
