PM Narendra Modi will travel to Washington from Paris on Feb 12 for his first bilateral meeting with President Donald Trump after the latter’s inauguration last month. His official engagements are scheduled to take place over the next two days, with the summit likely on Feb 13.
Modi will travel to France next week to co-chair an AI summit that President Emmanuel Macron is hosting on Feb 10-11. While Trump too had been invited for the summit, the US is likely to be represented in the meeting by Vice President J D Vance.
With Trump not travelling to Paris, the bilateral summit with Modi will now take place in the US capital. Trump, in fact, had confirmed last week, after a phone conversation with the PM, that he would be visiting the White House in Feb.
In what was their first conversation since the Jan 20 inauguration, Trump had raised the two possible sticking points in ties - trade and illegal immigration - while pledging cooperation with India to deepen the strategic partnership, including through Quad in the Indo-Pacific. Trump sought a fair trading relationship with India, in line with his commitment to reduce the trade deficit, and expressed confidence that Modi would do what’s right on the issue of irregular migration.
Modi will be among a select group of leaders who will visit the White House in the first month of Trump’s second term. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu will be the first foreign leader to call on Trump. This is likely to be followed by a meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah II early next week.
While there was no official word from either side about the dates for the visit, sources said Trump is likely to host a dinner for Modi and that no community event had been planned for the PM till now. As of now, Modi is also not scheduled to travel to any other city. A meeting with business leaders isn’t ruled out.
