PM Modi begins US visit, gets a rousing welcome in New York

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in New York late Tuesday to kick off his Official State Visit to the United States at the invitation of the country’s President Joseph Biden and First Lady Jill Biden.

Hundreds of expatriate Indians gathered outside the airport and the hotel to welcome PM Modi.

The visit begins in New York, where Prime Minister Modi will lead the celebrations of the International Day of Yoga at the United Nations Headquarters on Wednesday. In December 2014, the UN General Assembly had adopted a resolution proclaiming June 21 as the International Day of Yoga.

PM Modi will thereafter travel to Washington, where he will receive a ceremonial welcome at the White House on June 22 and meet President Biden to continue their high-level dialogue. A State Dinner will be hosted in his honour the same evening.

At the invitation of Congressional leaders, including the Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, Prime Minister will address a Joint Sitting of the US Congress on June 22.

On June 23, Prime Minister will be jointly hosted at a luncheon by US Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Bilnken.

In addition to the official engagements, Prime Minister is scheduled to have several curated interactions with leading CEOs, professionals, and other stakeholders. He will also meet members of the Indian diaspora.

Before leaving for New York, PM Modi highlighted that India-US ties are multifaceted, with deepening engagements across sectors. The USA is India’s largest trade partner in goods and services and both countries collaborate closely in science and technology, education, health, defence and security fields.

“The initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies has added new dimensions and widened collaboration to defence industrial cooperation, space, telecom, quantum, Artificial Intelligence and biotech sectors. Our two countries are also collaborating to further our shared vision of a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific,” said PM Modi.

He added that the visit to the US will reinforce India-US ties based on shared values of democracy, diversity and freedom as both countries stand stronger in meeting the shared global challenges.

“Strong people-to-people linkages have been instrumental in developing the trust between our countries. I look forward to meeting the vibrant Indian-American community that represents the best of our societies. I will also meet some of the leading CEOs to discuss opportunities for elevating our trade and investment relationship and for building resilient global supply chains,” he said on Tuesday.

Prime Minister will subsequently travel to Cairo to pay a State Visit to the Arab Republic of Egypt from June 24-25, his first visit to the country.

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