Modi’s US visit from tomorrow

New York: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s packed State Visit to the US is expected to lead to several understandings and remove barriers in the way of taking cooperation in crucial areas such as defence and critical technologies to the next level.

PM Modi will visit the US during June 20-24, when he will be hosted by Biden at the White House and address a joint session of the Congress. Modi’s State visit to the US, at the invitation of Biden and First Lady Jill Biden, will commence in New York, where the Prime Minister will lead celebrations marking the International Day of Yoga at the UN headquarters on June 21. Thereafter, Modi will travel to Washington, where he will be given a ceremonial welcome at the White House on June 22. Unlike past such welcomes, more than a thousand people are expected to be at the event, including members of the diaspora.

Modi's visit to the US will include an address to the Indian diaspora at a relatively modest gathering in Washington DC because of his tight schedule, dashing the hopes of community leaders who had hoped to organise a gala event. "Narendra Modi is the most popular Indian prime minister for the global Indian diaspora. Now he is the most popular world leader," said Bharat Barai, chairman of the Indian American Community Foundation, which had initially planned a mega carnival-like event in Chicago to rival the welcome the PM received at Madison Square Garden in 2014 and in Houston in 2019.