Foreign secretary US-bound to firm up Modi’s agenda

NEW DELHI: Foreign secretary S Jaishankar is expected to lead the advance party to Washington early next week in order to firm up the official agenda before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meet with United States President Donald Trump on June 26.

While Jaishankar may leave for Washington around June 21, PM will leave for his first meeting with Trump via Amsterdam on June 24.

While the focus of Modi’s forthcoming visit is to build a personal rapport or a working relationship with President Trump, Jaishankar will be meeting his counterpart Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan and key White House officials before PM’s arrival to flesh out the deliverables of the crucial meeting. National Security Advisor Ajit Doval will accompany PM to Washington.

Even though US defence manufacturers are keen to push the offer of F-18 and F-16 fighters under the ‘Make in India’ rubric, South Block wants the process to be first decided within the defence ministry in consultation with Indian Air Force before committing anything on a bilateral document. India’s focus is more on the civil aviation sector with the intentions of creating jobs on both sides.

“With Indian private airlines committing to buy nearly 260 passenger jets including latest 737-10 jets from Boeing Aerospace, no less than 25,000 new jobs will be created in Trump’s America,” said a US diplomat.

South Block said the main purpose of the “no frills” visit is for Modi and Trump to come on the same page on key issues such as terrorism, UN reforms, South China Sea and the future of climate change. While Modi is expected to raise Indian con- cerns over H-1B visa, the fundamental purpose is the build oneto-one rapport with Trump and his administration with better sharing of information on key bilateral issues.

Modi will be holding a top CEOs dinner on June 25 along with a community event in Washington before he goes to meet Trump. At the CEOs forum, the PM will invite American companies to invest in India in high technology sectors including cyber security.