Bilateral meetings with leaders of Japan, Australia also expected: FS Misri on PM Modi's US visit

Foreign Secretary Misri said that the QUAD (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue) event will provide PM Modi with the opportunity to thank both US President Biden, and Japanese PM Kishida for their leadership.

The remarks by Misri came during a briefing by the Ministry of External Affairs on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the United States for the upcoming Quad summit.

In a press briefing on Thursday, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said, "...This is also going to be kind of a farewell event in so far as the Quad is concerned for President Biden and Prime Minister Kishida of Japan and therefore, the Quad event provides the Prime Minister with an opportunity to thank both leaders for their leadership in giving momentum and salience to the Quad partnership."

Quad is a diplomatic partnership between four countries--Australia, India, Japan, and the United States.

"There will be an opportunity to have a substantive engagement between Prime Minister and President Biden where they will have the opportunity to review the comprehensive global strategic partnership between India and the United States which today covers almost every aspect of human endeavour through the 50 plus engagements and bilateral dialogue mechanisms that we have between the two sides" the Foreign Secretary said.

"We also expect to have bilateral meetings with the leaders of Japan and Australia," he added.

Elaborating on the events that will be taking place in the US during PM Modi's visit, Misri said, "PM Modi will be visiting the US from September 21-23. This visit combines very important aspects. It has very important bilateral aspects to it, very important plurilateral aspects to it and equally important multilateral aspect to it. There will be interaction with a variety of foreign partners at the level of the Prime Minister. There will be interaction with the large Indian diaspora in the US. And there will be engagement with a host of business and industry leaders, amongst others."

He added, "PM's first talk will be in Wilmington, Delaware, which is the hometown of President Joe Biden. That is also the venue of this sixth Quad summit..."

Misri further informed that from Wilmington, the PM will travel to New York, to attend the Summit of the Future.

He said, "He (PM Modi) will also have a number of engagements throughout these three days. On September 21, there will be Quad summit; the bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the Quad summit. A special event on the sidelines of Quad summit will be Cancer Moonshot event. On September 22, PM will have an interaction with the Indian diaspora. This is being organised by the community in Long Island, New York..."

On the possibility of meeting with former US President Donald Trump, Misri said, "There are many meetings with the Prime Minister right now which we are trying to fix. Right now, I will not be able to tell you about any specific meeting, whether the meeting has been fixed or not. We are looking from all angles as to how much time we have and with whom we can hold meetings. We will keep updating you about the meetings."

PM 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.

PM 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'. (ANI)