Modi to visit US on June 22

Modi’s state visit is seen in Washington DC as symbol of the deepening India-US strategic partnership, amid shared anxieties about China’s actions in Asia and beyond

At the invitation of United States (US) president Joe Biden, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will make an official state visit to Washington DC on June 22, the White House announced on Wednesday. Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will also host Modi for a state dinner during the visit.

The PM is likely to lead International Yoga Day celebrations a day earlier, on June 21, at the United Nations in New York. (PTI)

In a statement, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, “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 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’s state visit is seen in Washington DC as symbol of the deepening India-US strategic partnership, amid shared anxieties about China’s actions in Asia and beyond. It is also an unequivocal signal by the Biden administration that it is committed to working with the Modi-led government, despite criticism from parts of the US political and media ecosystems about India’s perceived “democratic backsliding”. The visit is expected to significantly focus on the newer areas of cooperation between the two countries, particularly emerging technologies, supply chain diversification and the knowledge partnership.

Jean-Pierre added that the two leaders would also discuss ways to expand “educational exchanges and people-to-people ties”, and confront common challenges “from climate change, to workforce development and health security”.

The PM is likely to lead International Yoga Day celebrations a day earlier, on June 21, at the United Nations in New York, an event that will see substantial participation of the international community. He will also meet top business leaders during his visit and engage with leaders across the American political spectrum.

While Modi has visited Washington several times during his tenure, this is the first time he has been invited for a state visit, and only the third time in diplomatic history that a US President has invited an Indian leader for a state visit. The other two invitees were President S Radhakrishnan in 1963 and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2009. All other visits by Indian leaders have either been official or working visits, according to a list put out by the State Department.

This is also just the third state visit Biden is hosting in his tenure. His previous guests have included the French president in December last year and the South Korean president in April this year.

Modi’s visit comes amid a hectic diplomatic calendar for both countries. The PM and Biden are expected to engage with each other several other times this year — during the G7 meeting in Hiroshima, their simultaneous visit to Papua New Guinea, and the Quad leaders’ level summit in Australia later this month and then during Biden’s visit for the G20 summit to New Delhi in September, which may be combined with a bilateral visit. With both India and the US heading to elections in 2024, the foreign policy machineries in Delhi and DC are keen to build on the momentum of the relationship this year.

Modi’s visit also comes in the backdrop of the consolidation of bilateral strategic ties. With the national security advisers of both countries in charge, India and the US unveiled the Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (ICET), an ambitious roadmap that laid out a pathway for cooperation, among other domains, in semiconductor manufacturing; defence innovation, co-production and co-development; artificial intelligence, quantum and space; and higher education and research in the sciences. The White House also promised to expeditiously review an application from General Electric to “jointly produce jet engines that could power jet aircraft operated and produced indigenously by India”. The US administration also promised to work with the US Congress to reduce export barriers to India where applicable.

It is expected that ICET will serve as an important framework in determining the deliverables for the visit. India will be keenly watching if the US does give a green signal to GE; this will mark a significant deepening of defence cooperation and an acknowledgment of the Indian emphasis on domestic manufacturing. Diplomats of both countries have been closely engaged with each other in the past few months on other areas where progress can be made, including a possible defence innovation bridge as a way to encourage start-ups, capital support for high-tech cooperation, specific fellowships in science, tech, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines and possible methods to ease US immigration norms for Indian talent in these areas. Ashwini Vaishnaw, India’s minister for electronics and information technology, is currently in California engaging with major semiconductor companies to explore possible collaborations.

In the economic and commercial domain, India and the US held a bilateral commercial dialogue and CEO forum in March. Despite not having a free trade agreement, bilateral trade in goods and services was over $192 billion in 2022, a record . US cabinet officials, including treasury secretary Janet Yellen and commerce secretary Gina Raimondo, have spoken of India’s role in diversifying supply chains. The commerce department and ministry of external affairs have also launched the India-U.S. Strategic Trade Dialogue “to address export controls, explore ways of enhancing high technology commerce, and facilitate technology transfer between the two countries”. For its part, Indian foreign direct investment in the US has crossed $40 billion, according to a recent report by the Confederation of Indian Industry. India is also a part of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, which will have its next ministerial meeting in Detroit later this month. These trade and investment issues are expected to be figure prominently during Modi’s visit.