Right ahead of the US Elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the United States from September 21 to 23. This is the first visit of PM Modi in his third term and this visit is also significant as this time, along with bilateral issues, QUAD, concerns of Global South, the focus of PM Modi is also on the war in Europe as he recently visited both Russia and Ukraine.
This time, the Prime Minister’s visit would be short but loaded with engagements, roundtables, bilateral meets and he would also not be going to Washington DC. PM Modi will also not be addressing the high-level UNGA Session. Modi will first visit Wilmington in Delaware as US President Joe Biden will host him and other Quad Leaders at his home for QUAD Leaders’ meet. PM Modi and President Biden have had nine engagements since 2022 at multilateral events and during visits, which also include one telephonic conversation and one virtual summit.
PM Modi will also hold bilateral meeting with all three leaders – President Biden, Prime Minister Kishida of Japan and PM Antony Albanese of Australia – on Sunday after concluding QUAD Summit. On the sidelines of the QUAD Summit, a special event has been planned – the Cancer moonshot event.
PM Modi will attend a community event ‘Modi & US’ in Long Island at the Nassau Veterans Memorial in Coliseum. The preparation for the event has been going on for about a month and the event is already overbooked as the capacity is 15,000, but more than 24,000 Indians have registered for it. Indian Americans from 42 states are expected to attend the event and the response has been particularly strong from the tri-state area.
PM Modi will also be chairing a Roundtable with CEOs of American companies working in AI, Quantum Computing, Biotechnology, Cutting Edge Technology.
On the third day, which is September 23, Prime Minister Modi will address a gathering of world leaders at the Summit of the Future (SOTF) at United Nations and on the sidelines, he is expected to hold bilateral meetings with other Heads of states visiting New York for UNGA.
At a press briefing ahead of the Prime Minister’s US visit, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said, “This visit combines many aspects. It has a very important bilateral aspect to it, a very important plurilateral aspect to it, and an equally important multilateral aspect to it.”
QUAD Summit to be highlight
QUAD summit will be the key highlight of the visit as the summit had been getting delayed since January when India was planning it around the Republic Day Event and then due to election season in India and United States, both countries could not work on schedule. QUAD this time is also special as it would be President Biden’s and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s farewell summit as Kishida has announced to step down.
The US is also sending a message by organising the summit in Biden’s hometown to show the cozy relationship between countries.
The Quad agenda covers health and security, climate change, critical and emerging tech, HADR Infra connectivity, maritime security and counter terrorism. The leaders in Delaware will review the progress achieved in the last one year and set the agenda for the next year.
This time, Quad’s joint statement could see a change in language, which will perhaps will have a reflection of views of all countries on the Russia-Ukraine conflict. PM Modi is the only leader in Quad who has visited both Russia and Ukraine.
QUAD saw a natural evolution and elevation in 2021 to the levels of leaders with first meeting taking place in March 2021. The practical work of the Quad is taken forward through six Leader Level Working Groups and other initiatives.
Modi-Biden Bilateral Meet
PM Modi will also hold a bilateral meeting with President Biden. India and US are expected to exchange a few agreements including Indo-Pacific economic framework related agreements and an India-US Drug Framework MoU. Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said, “Prime Minister Modi and President Biden will also have the opportunity to review the comprehensive global strategic partnership between India and United States which today covers almost every aspect of human endeavour through the 50-Plus engagements and bilateral dialogue mechanisms that we have between the two sides.”
Both leaders will review the progress made in areas of cooperation as there have also been certain hiccups in the India-US relationship due to alleged assassination plot to kill Khalistani leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, in which investigation is still underway. India has also formed a committee to look into the allegations. This visit could be helpful to clear out differences between two countries.
India and US have many areas of cooperation and one of them is defence, which includes procurement of 31 MQ-9B Predator Drones, Joint Manufacturing of Stryker Infantry Combat Vehicles and Co Production of GE F414 Engines in India.
The Ukraine issue likely to be discussed between two sides.
Summit of the Future
At the Summit of Future at United Nations, PM Modi will address world leaders and is likely to highlight the concerns of the countries from Global South since India held a summit for Global South in August. He may also speak on the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
“The summit is being held at a time of conflict, tensions and divisions in the the world. There is obvious deficit of development in the world at large and the Global South is at a risk of being left behind on account of current development,” Misri said.
PM Modi will also hold bilateral meetings with other world leaders on the sidelines of the summit. PM Modi is likely to meet Benjamin Netanyahu as reported in Israel. Bangladesh Chief Adviser Mohammad Yunus has also sought time from PM Modi to meet, but there is no confirmation yet on whether this meeting will take place.
Meanwhile, the suspense over whether PM Modi will meet former US President Donald Trump continues. Many familiar with the visit have said that if Modi meets Trump, he will also have to meet Democrat Candidate Kamala Harris to balance things and given PM Modi’s tight schedule in the short visit, that may not be on te cards. Foreign secretary Vikram Misri said he could not comment on the meeting at this point in time.
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