PM Narendra Modi to meet Joe Biden for first time this month: Report

Marking his first visit to the United States after President Joe Biden took office, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is reportedly going to travel to Washington DC and New York in September end. “If the schedule works out as per ongoing discussions, the window of opportunity that is being explored is September 22-27,’ according to sources. .

This is also going to be Narendra Modi’s first in-person meeting with Biden. Earlier, Narendra Modi was supposed to visit the UK for the G-7 summit, where he could have met Joe Biden, but the trip was cancelled due to the second wave of COVID-19 in India. 

His visit, amid Afghanistan’s situation, is going to be significant, as he is scheduled to meet other top officials of the US administration as well. 

Narendra Modi’s last visit to the US was in September 2019. The two are expected to collaborate on an agenda on the Indo-Pacific.

Furthermore, a Quad leaders’ summit is also in the calendar to discuss a similar agenda in Washington DC, around the time he is going to visit. However, following Japanese PM Yoshihide Suga’s step down from his duties, the in-person summit could  possibly be in a “hybrid format” where Modi and Biden join in person, and leaders of Japan and Australia virtually. 

In a bid to give shape to the PM’s agenda, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla visited the officials from the Biden administration on Wednesday, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Deputy Secretary Wendy Sherman. 

Following the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, this was the first high-level official discussion between India and the United States. 

“Shringla and Sherman discussed a broad range of shared priorities, including continued coordination on Afghanistan, strengthening Indo-Pacific cooperation through the Quad, addressing the climate crisis and the pandemic, and preparations for upcoming dialogues, such as the 2+2 Ministerial,” said US State Department spokesperson Ned Price.