President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will host India Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an official state visit on June 22, which will include a state dinner, the White House announced Wednesday.
“The upcoming visit will affirm the deep and close partnership between the United States and India and the warm bonds of family and friendship that link Americans and Indians together,” the White House said in a statement.
“The visit will strengthen our two countries’ shared commitment to a free, open, prosperous, and secure Indo-Pacific and our shared resolve to elevate our strategic technology partnership, including in defense, clean energy, and space.”
Modi and Biden “will discuss ways to further expand our educational exchanges and people-to-people ties, as well as our work together to confront common challenges from climate change, to workforce development and health security,” according to the White House.
The Indian Embassy in the U.S. did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the planned visit.
The announcement comes as Biden prepares to meet with Modi at the Quad Leaders’ Summit in Sydney, Australia, on May 24.
Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will also attend. The four countries represented at the Quad Summit are expected to lay out areas of continued collaboration in the Indo-Pacific region during a time of mounting U.S.-China tension.
The two world leaders previously met in Tokyo, Japan, in May 2022, to reaffirm their commit to working together on a range of global problems, including climate change, economic engagement and Russia’s war in Ukraine.
That meeting came a month after Biden spoke to Modi during a video call in which he asked his Indian counterpart not to boost purchases of oil from Russia and offered to help the country diversity its energy sources.
The Russia-Ukraine war and other issues, such as New Delhi’s handling of human rights, have strained ties between the U.S. and India. India has maintained a neutral stance on the war in Ukraine.
However, the U.S. and India are aligned on certain goals, including countering China’s growing influence in the region.
India and China have had multiple disputes along their border in recent years. In June 2020, India said 20 soldiers were killed in a border clash, marking the first deaths in 53 years of the standoff between the two powerful nations.
Source – NBC News
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