Accompanied by a high level official delegation including NSA Ajit Doval, External Affairs Minister and Foreign Secretary, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will leave for the US on Wednesday (Sept 22, 2021).
AMN / WEB DESK
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will leave for US tomorrow. During the visit, Mr Modi will meet US President Joe Biden in Washington and will address the UNGA in New York.
Briefing media in New Delhi today, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden are expected to deliberate on ways to bolster bilateral ties in trade, investment and defence and security in their in-person talks in Washington.
He said, the bilateral talks between Prime minister Modi and US President Biden are expected to figure ways to deal with radicalisation and terrorism besides major regional issues including developments in Afghanistan. Mr Modi will also meet US Vice President Kamala Harris.
Replying to a question on the recent security partnership among the US, Australia and the UK and its possible impact on Quad, Mr Shringla said the AUKUS and Quad are two groups and not similar in nature.
Mr Shirngla said, besides holding bilateral talks with the US leaders, the prime minister will participate in the first in-person summit of the Quad in Washington that is expected to broadly focus on contemporary global and regional issues.
He said, Mr Modi will have bilateral meetings with his Japanese and Australian counterparts.
Mr Shringla said, the Quad summit is expected to provide a valuable opportunity for dialogue and interactions among the leaders, anchored in their shared vision of ensuring a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region.
He informed, in Washington, Prime minister will also meet a number of top executives of major American companies.
After concluding his engagements in Washington, Prime minister will travel to New York and is scheduled to address the General Debate of the High-Level Segment of the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on September 25th.
In reply to a question, the Foreign secretary said, the non-recognition of Covishield is a discriminating policy and impacts our citizens travelling to the UK.
He said, the External Affairs Minister has raised the issue strongly with the new UK foreign secretary and assurances have been given that this issue will be resolved.