India / Prez Biden, PM Modi to hold 1st in-person bilateral talks on Sept 24

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is set to travel to the US this week, will hold a bilateral meeting with US President Joe Biden on September 24 at the White House.

This will be PM Modi’s first visit to the United States since Biden administration came to power in the country in January this year.

This will also be Prime Minister's first in-person meeting with Biden. The two leaders have virtually met for several multilateral meetings — the Quad summit in March, the climate change summit in April, and the G-7 meet in June this year.

“This will be the first in-person meeting (of the US President Biden) with PM Modi on Friday. It will be opportunity to really go from strength to strength from the point of view of our global partnership with India, by working together to uphold free and open Indo-Pacific,” said a senior official of the Biden administration.

In the bilateral meeting, the two leaders will talk about the threat of counterterrorism and the situation in Afghanistan and how the two countries can work together to fight a common enemy of terrorism.

“The relationship between the US and India is deeper than just a government-to-government relationship, it really is a relationship between two people,” the official added.

PM Modi last visited the US in 2019 when he addressed a mega diaspora event in Houston 'Howdy, Modi!' which was also attended by then President Donald Trump.

In his first visit to the US since Biden assumed office, PM Modi will participate in the summit of the Quad on September 24 in Washington.

This will be the first in-person Quad summit that is expected to broadly focus on contemporary global challenges, including the Afghan crisis, the COVID pandemic and ensuring a free and open Indo-Pacific.

The US is hosting the in-person summit of the leaders of the four-nation grouping to boost practical cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region as well as to send a strong signal about Washington''s commitment to the grouping.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be participating, along with Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga of Japan and President Joseph R Biden of USA, in the Leaders'' Summit of the Quadrilateral Framework in Washington DC, USA, on September 24," the MEA said in a statement.

After concluding his engagements in Washington, PM Modi will travel to New York to attend the UN General Assembly on September 25.

"The theme for this year''s General Debate is ''Building Resilience through hope to recover from COVID-19, rebuild sustainably, respond to the needs of the planet, respect the rights of people, and revitalise the United Nations''," the MEA said.