Narendra Modi meets Trump, says US President welcomed him with ‘immense warmth’

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met President Donald Trump on Monday for their first summit with focus on pushing the strategic ties amid the US’ strong message to Pakistan by declaring Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin as a global terrorist.

In a special gesture, Trump and the first lady Melania came out on the South Portico of the White House to receive Modi.

Trump and his wife warmly welcomed Modi and they were seen exchanging pleasantries and having a brief interaction before going inside the White House.

President @realDonaldTrump has welcomed me with immense warmth. I thank him for the welcome: PM @narendramodi

— PMO India (@PMOIndia) June 26, 2017

As the two leaders sat for the meeting, Modi expressed gratitude to Trump and the first lady for the warm welcome extended to him.He said the welcome extended to him was a welcome to 125 crore people of India.

The prime minister said Trump has been paying attention to India’s growth march and economic progress.

He recalled that Trump had visited India in 2014 before he became the President and had made nice comments.

Among the issues on the table were counter-terrorism cooperation, defence partnership, global cooperation, trade and energy.

The tone for the first summit meeting was set by the US State Department which declared Syed Salahuddin, chief of Kashmiri militant group Hizbul Mujahideen, as a ‘global terrorist’, just a few hours earlier.

The State Department action sent out a strong message against the terrorism emanating from Pakistan which is hurting India.

Ahead of the meeting, Modi said the logic of the Indo-US strategic ties is “incontrovertible” and the two countries have an overriding interest in securing the world from terrorism, radical ideologies and non-traditional security threats.

First Published: Jun 27, 2017 02:05 IST