PM Modi on Wednesday left for the US from Marseille in France, the second-leg of his two-nation tour that began on February 10
PM Modi and Donald Trump. File Pic/X
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to arrive here late Wednesday beginning his two-day US visit, during which he will hold a bilateral meeting with President Donald Trump seeking to shore up bilateral cooperation.
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Modi on Wednesday left for the US from Marseille in France, the second-leg of his two-nation tour that began on February 10.
PM Modi, who will hold a bilateral meeting with President Trump in both restricted and delegation-level formats, will be among the first few world leaders to visit the United States following Trump’s January 20 inauguration.
A range of bilateral issues are expected to be on the table, with foreign policy-watchers indicating that some of the sensitive issues may also figure in the discussions.
However, there is no official word yet on the agenda to be taken up during Modi's visit.
The Prime Minister's visit comes nearly three weeks after the January 20 inauguration of Trump and amid tariff threats issued by the US leader in the recent past.
The United States will impose tariffs on the countries that “harm” America, President Trump had told House Republicans at a Florida retreat late January.
In his address, he had described China as a “tremendous tariff-maker” and then went on to also name India and Brazil in that category.
The visit also comes days after a US military aircraft carrying 104 illegal Indian immigrants landed in Punjab's Amritsar, the first such batch of Indians deported by the Donald Trump administration as part of a crackdown against illegal immigrants.
The way a batch of Indians were deported from the US has caused a great deal of anxiety, resentment and anger in India, and New Delhi will have to “delicately” convey a message to Washington behind closed doors on this, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said on Monday in New Delhi.
The MP from Thiruvananthapuram had made the remarks in response to a query at a book launch event, the same day when Prime Minister Modi departed for France.
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 Vikram Misri said in a briefing on February 7 in New Delhi.
“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 “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.
Modi will also interact with business leaders and members of the Indian community in the US.
The visit will also strengthen people-to-people relations between the two countries, he said, adding, “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.” “We expect a joint statement to be adopted at the end of the visit,” the foreign secretary said.
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