New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to pay a two-day visit to the US from February 12 to hold talks with US President Donald Trump on a range of issues including trade and defence, people familiar with the matter said on Monday.
As per the plan, Modi will travel to Washington DC after concluding his two-day visit to Paris, they said.
The prime minister is expected to land in the American capital on the evening of February 12 and he and Trump are expected to hold the talks the next day, the people said.
It would be the prime minister’s first bilateral visit to the US after Trump assumed the presidency for a second term on January 20 following his stunning electoral victory in November.
Modi will be among a very handful of foreign leaders to travel to Washington DC on a bilateral visit within weeks after the Trump administration came to power.
However, there is no official word yet on Modi’s visit. Last week, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said New Delhi is working with Washington for an “early” visit of PM Modi to the US.
The prime minister is travelling to Paris to attend the Artificial Intelligence Action summit on February 10 and 11.
Modi’s visit to the US is taking place against the backdrop of concerns in India over the US President’s approach on immigration and tariff.
President Trump on Sunday announced imposing a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian and Mexican imports as well as an additional 10 per cent tax on Chinese goods.
Modi and Trump, during a phone conversation on January 27, vowed to work towards a “trusted” partnership with a focus on boosting India-US cooperation in areas of trade, energy and defence.
Following the phone talks, the White House said Trump emphasised the importance of India increasing its procurement of US-made security equipment and moving toward a fair bilateral trade relationship.
“Both leaders emphasised their commitment to advance the US-India strategic partnership and the Indo-Pacific Quad partnership, with India hosting Quad Leaders for the first time later this year,” it said.
India has already indicated its keenness to expand its energy ties with the US, especially in the clean energy sector.
New Delhi on Saturday announced plans to amend its nuclear liability law and set up a nuclear energy mission, a move that came ahead of Modi’s trip to the US.
Certain clauses in India’s Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010 have emerged as hurdles in moving forward in implementation of the historic civil nuclear deal that was firmed up between the two strategic partners around 16 years back.
It is learnt that India is looking at the possibility of civil nuclear cooperation with the US in the small modular reactors (SMRs).
US-based Holtec International is known to be one of the leading exporters of SMRs globally and the Department of Atomic Energy is learnt to be interested in having some collaboration with the American firm.
