Narendra Modi to be the first foreign leader to have dinner with Donald Trump at White House

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to spend nearly five hours with US President Donald Trump.

By: News Desk |
June 24, 2017 11:04 am

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to spend nearly five hours with US President Donald Trump in order to know each other well, forge a strong personal bond and take forward a solid bilateral relationship when they meet at the White House on Monday. The two world leaders will first meet for one-on-one talks at around 3:30 pm on Monday (Tuesday 1:00 am IST), and after a brief photo-op with the media, they will head delegation-level talks, followed by a cocktail reception.

According to a Times of India report, PM Modi’s day will culminate with a White House dinner. Notably, this will be the first dinner by the Trump administration for a visiting foreign leader. A Senior White House official also revealed that the White House is “seeking to roll out the red carpet.”

“The visit provides an opportunity to strengthen the US-India strategic partnership, which the President views as being critical in Asia-Pacific and globally,” the official said, according to the TOI report.

This will be their first personal meeting. Earlier President Trump and PM Modi have spoken twice over telephone after the former assumed office. Officials on both sides characterize the two leaders as being business-centric and publicly-engaged, given that they are the two most followed world leaders on social media (Trump with 32.7 million followers on Twitter and Modi with 30.9 million followers).

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The talks between the two leaders would be broad-ranging and seek to advance common priorities, including counter-terrorism, facilitating India’s defence modernization, and helping advance India’s role in Asia-Pacific.

Earlier in a statement posted on Facebook, Modi said his two-day visit to Washington from June 25 was at the invitation of Trump. Apart from official meetings with Trump and his cabinet colleagues, Modi will be meeting some prominent American CEOs.

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In the first leg of the tour, Modi will visit Portugal where he will have talks with Prime Minister Antonio Costa.

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