Donald Trump to attend ‘Howdy, Modi!’ in Houston, to address over 50,000 Indian-Americans

INDIA/USA In a significant boost to India-US ties and nod to their growing personal equation, President Donald Trump will be attending Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s diaspora outreach event in Houston next Sunday, called “Howdy, Modi!”, the White House announced Sunday.

Trump will not only attend but also address the gathering, people familiar with the hosting of the event said. The two leaders are not expected to hold discussions, either one-on-one or with their delegations, but are likely to meet in New York City on the sidelines of the UN general assembly debates.

This personal outreach by the American president comes at a critical stage in ties between the two countries after Pakistan sought to leverage Trump’s request for its help in Afghanistan peace talks, to seek his mediation to resolve the Kashmir dispute. Trump had agreed, and repeated his offer three times, before backing off in the face of a determined and unambiguous push back from India. Trump will leave Houston the same day for another event with a visiting world leader, the Australian prime minister Scott Morrison but in Wapakoneta, Ohio, the White House said wrapping up joint appearances to “underscore the important partnerships between the United States and India, and Australia”.

The three countries are members of a growing Indo-Pacific partnership, along with Japan, called the Quad, which has had officiallevel meetings with growing frequency in the past one year. There was no word if a summitlevel meeting of the Quad, or its foreign minister, was on the anvil. Announcing President Trump’s participation in the Houston event, the White House said, it will be a “great opportunity to emphasize the strong ties” between the peoples of the two countries and to “reaffirm the strategic partnership between the world’s oldest and largest democracies, and to discuss ways to deepen their energy and trade relationship”.

This is probably the first time as president that Trump will address a diaspora outreach event alongside a visiting foreign leader; he has attended factory openings and ribboncutting ceremonies with them, such as his tour of an Australian-owned manufacturing with Morrison in Ohio.

(Hindustan Times)