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Modi to visit US from Sept 21 for Quad, UN summit

Modi will take part in the fourth Quad Leaders’ Summit in Wilmington, Delaware, which is being hosted by US President Joe Biden on September 21….reports Asian Lite News

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the United States from September 21 to 23 during which he will take part in the Quad Summit and address the ‘Summit of the Future’ at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Modi will take part in the fourth Quad Leaders’ Summit in Wilmington, Delaware, which is being hosted by US President Joe Biden on September 21.

Following the request of the US side to host the Quad Summit this year, India has agreed to host the next Quad Summit in 2025.

At the Quad Summit, the leaders will review the progress achieved by the Quad over the last one year and set the agenda for the year ahead to assist the countries of the Indo-Pacific region in meeting their development goals and aspirations, a Ministry of External Affairs release said.

Modi will address ‘Summit of the Future’ at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 23. The theme of the Summit is ‘Multilateral Solutions for a Better Tomorrow’.

A large number of global leaders are expected to participate in the Summit. On the sidelines of the Summit, the Prime Minister would be holding bilateral meetings with several world leaders and discuss issues of mutual interest.

The Prime Minister will address a gathering of the Indian community on September 22 in New York.

The Prime Minister would also be interacting with CEOs of leading US-based companies to foster greater collaborations between the two countries in the cutting-edge areas of AI, quantum computing, semiconductors and biotechnology, the release said.

He is also expected to interact with thought leaders and other stakeholders active in the India-US bilateral landscape.

A White House statement earlier said that the Biden-Harris Administration has made elevating and institutionalizing the Quad a top priority, from the first-ever Quad Leaders Summit at the White House in 2021, to annual Summits since then. In recent years, Quad Foreign Ministers have met eight times, and Quad governments continue to meet and coordinate at all levels.

“The Quad Leaders Summit will focus on bolstering the strategic convergence among our countries, advancing our shared vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific region, and delivering concrete benefits for partners in the Indo-Pacific in key areas. These include health security, natural disaster response, maritime security, high-quality infrastructure, critical and emerging technology, climate and clean energy, and cybersecurity,” it said. (ANI)

Trump says will meet Modi during US visit

Former US President Donald Trump stated during a campaign event on Tuesday that that he will meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to the United States next week as per the Reuters news agency.

The Republican presidential candidate made the announcement while campaigning in Michigan on Tuesday,

“He happens to be coming to meet me next week,” Trump said, terming Modi as a “fantastic” leader.

“So when India, which is a very big abuser, he happens to be coming to meet me next week. And Modi, he is fantastic. I mean, fantastic man. These are a lot of these leaders are fantastic. You have to understand one thing. They’re dealing, there are 100 per cent,” Trump was cited as saying by the Reuters.

“These people are the sharpest people. They’re not a little bit backward. They are at the top. You know the expression? They’re at the top of their game and they use it against us. But India’s very tough,” Trump said.

It did not mention meeting with Trump but said, “On the sidelines of the Summit, the Prime Minister would be holding bilateral meetings with several world leaders and discuss issues of mutual interest.” Trump’s campaign calendar shows him in North Carolina on Saturday and in Pennsylvania on Monday evening, with nothing pencilled in for Sunday.

The former president mentioned the meeting with Modi while talking about trade imbalances and how he would hike duties on imports from India through a Trump Reciprocal Tax Act.

He called India “a very big abuser” of the tariffs system because of the high duties it imposes on some imports from the US and said New Delhi “is very tough” in negotiations.

“If anybody charges us 10 cents, if they charge us $2, if they charge us 100 per cent 250, we charge them the same,” he said.

Listing India among them, he said that countries the US was trading with are “the sharpest people. They’re not a little bit backward … they’re at the top of their game, and they use it against us”.

He added, “China is the toughest of all, but we were taking care of China with the tariffs, so we’re going to do a reciprocal trade.”

While in office Trump tangled with India over tariffs, putting a spotlight on the duties on Harley-Davidson motorcycles and whiskey.

He hiked duties on steel and aluminium imports and eliminated the Generalised Scheme of Preferences that provided for concessional tariffs for some Indian exports and New Delhi retaliated by raising duties mostly on agricultural exports like apples and almonds.

Though they had differences on trade, Modi and Trump developed strong personal ties.

With elections about five weeks away and Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris in almost a tie, Modi has a tightrope walk ahead — not appearing to favour either party but also having to keep his lines of communication open to both.

Before the 2020 election that Trump lost, Modi appeared alongside him at a community event billed as “Howdy Modi”, in Houston in 2019 and, in a play of his own election slogan, cheered him, “Abki baar, Trump sarkar” (This time, Trump’s government”).

Both Modi and Donald Trump last met in February 2020, when the then US President visited India. Trump was weleomed with a ‘Namaste Trump’ event in Ahmedabad, which also marked the opening of the world’s largest cricket stadium. During Modi’s visit to the US in 2019 he participated in a “Howdy, Modi!” rally in Texas. (ANI)

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