LOOKING BEYOND BILATERAL TIES
Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a bilateral meeting with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit in Manila, Philippines, on Monday. During the meeting, Modi told Trump that both nations could rise beyond bilateral ties and work jointly for the future of Asia, reflecting their growing convergence on strategic issues in the Indo-Pacific region. He also assured the US President that India would try to “live up to the expectations” of the US and the world and thanked him for speaking “highly” about India during his trips. Besides, Modi has invited the ASEAN countries to ramp up their investments in India and said the task of transforming the country was proceeding at an “unprecedented scale”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday told US President Donald Trump that both countries can rise beyond bilateral ties and work jointly for the future of Asia, reflecting their growing convergence on strategic issues in the Indo-Pacific region.
During their wide-ranging talks, which took place on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit in the Philippines, Modi assured Trump that India will try to “live up to the expectations” of the US and the world and also thanked the US President for speaking “highly” about India during his trips.
The meeting came a day after officials of India, the US, Japan and Australia held their talks to give shape to the much talked about quadrilateral alliance to keep the strategically important Indo-Pacific region free, open and inclusive.
“The cooperation between India and US can rise beyond bilateral cooperation and both countries can work for the future of Asia and the world... We are moving ahead together on many issues,” Modi told Trump in his opening remarks.
The US has been pitching for greater Indo-US cooperation in the strategically key Indo-Pacific region where China has been ramping up its military presence.
“Wherever President Trump has gone and wherever he got an opportunity to talk about India, he spoke very highly about India. He expressed optimism about India and I am assuring that the expectation the world has, the expectation the US has, India has been trying to live up to that expectation and will continue to do it,” said Modi. After the 45-minute meeting at the Sofitel hotel where Trump is staying, Modi tweeted “Held productive talks with @POTUS on further strengthening India-USA relations. @realDonaldTrump”.
Briefing reporters later, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar described the meeting as “coordial, constructive and very comfortable” conversation on bilateral, regional and global issues. He said the meeting was mainly focused on economic issues including trade and investment.
The two sides discussed how to grow the economic ties and improve market access to each other. He said the two leaders also discussed matters relating to defence cooperation, counter-terrorism, proliferation, the Korean crisis and situation in the West Asia, and the Gulf.