Washington: Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a very successful visit to the United States during which he held his maiden bilateral meeting with President Joe Biden and had a substantial exchange with other 3 Quad leaders at their first in-person summit, India’s Ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, said Wednesday.
“We just had a very successful visit here,” Amb. Sandhu said at a dinner event hosted by Indiaspora on Wednesday in Washington DC and attended by who’s who of the Indian-American community .
During PM Modi’s visit last week, top of the agenda was a bilateral meeting with President Biden, the first one since the Biden-Harris administration was inaugurated in January. The two leaders had earlier met in 2014 and 2016 when Biden was Vice President.
“So, it was not the first time they were meeting, but the bilateral meeting was very good,” Sandhu said in his first public appearance after the PM visit.
The interaction with Vice President Kamala Harris went very well too, he said.
Sandhu said that the Quad summit hosted by President Biden at the White House attended by Mr. Modi and prime ministers of Japan and Australia “really went off very well.”
“There was a good candid and substantial exchange between all the four leaders,” he said, adding that there are practical areas in which the cooperation is moving ahead well.
“In fact, in vaccines, all the four countries are bringing their respective strengths together and we are on our way to producing one billion vaccines in 2022, which will be distributed over the Indo-Pacific particularly in Southeast Asia,” Mr. Sandhu said.
From Washington DC, PM Modi went to New York where he addressed the UN General Assembly.
Running through some of the key accomplishments in addition to strategic ones, Amb. Sandhu said Prime Minister Modi had a good exchange on regional issues as well as other international challenges. “Quad is a group of like-minded countries which are coming together because today’s challenges are much international in nature. For example, COVID,” he said.
Quad, or Quadrilateral coalition, came together aimed to counter China’s aggressive behavior in the Indo-Pacific region.
As India resumes its export of vaccines, he noted there would be close cooperation with the United States and other like-minded countries.
Digital, IT, startups and innovation hold a lot of promise in the bilateral relationship with the US. Climate change, environment and knowledge and education are other major areas of cooperation between the two countries.
