Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaches US, will meet Donald Trump on Monday
Washington: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday arrived in Washington’s Joint Base Andrews where the Indian community came in large numbers to welcome the prime minister. “Modi, Modi” reverberates in dusky D.C. Skies,” the Indian Embassy in the US tweeted.
Modi arrived in Washington from Portugal on Sunday, on the second leg of his three-nation tour that will also take him to the Netherlands. Modi will meet with top CEOs later on Sunday. PM Modi was received by Indian ambassador Navtej Sarna and Charge d’Affaires at US Embassy in Delhi MaryKay Loss Carlson.
Talks between Narendra Modi and Donald Trump in what would be their first face-to-face meeting would focus on ongoing cooperation, including counter-terrorism and defence partnership in the Indo-Pacific region, besides trade and law enforcement, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer has said.
Spicer said that talks between the two leaders on Monday would be “robust”.
“… The President and the Prime Minister will discuss ongoing cooperation, including counterterrorism, defence partnership in the Indo-Pacific region, global cooperation, burden-sharing, trade, law enforcement, and energy. I think it’s going to be a very robust discussion,” he said at his regular briefing on Friday.
Modi left New Delhi on Saturday on a three-nation tour that took him first to Portugal. He reached Portugal on Saturday ahead of his visit to the US and will visit the Netherlands on June 27 on the way back home. Earlier in Portugal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met people from five Gujarati families who prepared the lunch that was hosted by Prime Minister Antonia Costa.
Indian Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar flew into Washington ahead of Modi’s visit to meet senior officials in the Trump administration and to lay the groundwork for the Modi-Trump meeting.
On Friday, Jaishankar met US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and both sides focused on areas of convergence.
Indian envoy to the US Navtej Sarna has termed Modi’s visit a “great opportunity for the two leaders to know each other”. He said Modi will meet the top 20 CEOs of the US during the visit.
