Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he is “confident in the growing convergence” between India and the U.S. as he prepares to meet with President Donald Trump at the White House.
In an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal, Modi stated his optimism for economic growth and increased bilateral trade between the two countries.
“In an uncertain global economic landscape, our two nations stand as mutually reinforcing engines of growth and innovation,” he wrote.
On Sunday, Modi met with top American business executives and members of the Indian diaspora on his first visit to the U.S. since Trump was elected president.
Meeting with tech leaders
At a hotel meeting in Washington with leaders of some of the top American technology companies, the prime minister extolled the virtues of doing business in India where he said there was “minimum government,” making it easy to do business in the South Asian nation.
Among those attending the meeting were Google’s Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella of Microsoft and Shantanu Narayen of Adobe Systems, who are all Indian Americans. Amazon chief Jeff Bezos and Apple’s Tim Cook also attended the meeting.
Indian diaspora
Later Sunday, at a hotel in Northern Virginia, the prime minister met with nearly 1,000 members of the Indian community in America.
Modi will meet with President Trump at the White House Monday for the first face-to-face discussion between the two leaders. Ahead of the meeting, Trump tweeted Saturday that he was looking forward to discussing strategic issues with a “true friend”.
The two governments are working on a joint statement about fighting terrorism, and a senior White House official says: “We can expect to see some new initiatives on counterterrorism cooperation.”
There is angst in New Delhi that Trump has not paid adequate attention to India, but Trump has generally been positive about India in public messaging. He previously visited Mumbai as a businessman, and he has Trump-branded properties in the country.
Modi, who like Trump, came into politics from a business background, is also expected to meet with a number of American CEOs, securing a deal with California drone-maker General Atomics for the sale of 22 Guardian (MQ-9) unarmed drones to India’s navy for maritime patrolling, as well a tentative deal with Lockheed Martin and Tata Advanced Systems to produce F-16 fighter jets in India.