Today the President of USA Donald Trump has invited PM Narendra Modi to visit Washington DC in the third week of this month. The ministry of external affair said that Narendra Modi will visit Washington DC on June 25-26, 2017, at the invitation of the President of the United States of America.
A few recent issues will be discussed in the meeting, which includes- a joint effort in fighting terrorism, the convergence of strategic interests in South Asia, and the vexed issue of H-1B temporary visa.
This will be the first meeting of PM Narendra Modi with Trump whose took over as the president on January 20. The meeting between the two leaders comes at a time when Donald Trump made critical comments about India while announcing America’s decision to pull out of the Paris climate change agreement. They have spoken over the phone at least thrice since the latter assumed office.
India and other countries have been accused by the US President Trump of trying to extract billions of dollars in foreign aid from the developed first world countries to sign up for the accord.
The main agenda of the meeting will be on H1-B visa program which is often used by IT companies while hiring Indian engineers in the United States. The terrorism issue will also be discussed on first priority and the second priority of the meeting will be on the convergence of strategic interests in Asia.
Last week President Donald Trump signed an executive order for tightening the rules of the H-1B visa program, the most sought-after by Indian IT firms, to stop “visa abuses”. And last month the Trump administration also had signed the executive order.
During the talk with Indian counterpart, US national security adviser (NSA) Lieutenant General HR McMaster had reaffirmed India’s position as the “major defense partner”. General HR McMaster had discussed the situation in the South Asian region, the bilateral ties during his visit in April 2017. Under the previous administration, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a record of total 8 meetings with former U.S. President Barack Obama.Mrs. Nirmala Sitharaman, the Union Industry Minister has reportedly hit back at the United States on the visa issue and said that the US companies will also be affected in India. She said, “Not only the Indian companies but also the companies of the USA will be affected, who earn profits which go to their economy”.
Obviously, there has some difference in opinion between the two nations but Modi’s discussions with Trump are likely to find a common approach on matters related to South Asia, particularly the rise in infiltration from the neighboring Pakistan. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reiterated India’s support to the Paris agreement and said that he is willing to go further than what has been discussed and committed under the Paris accord.
