Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the United States on June 25 and meet President Donald Trump on June 26, reported ANI. This will be Modi’s first meeting with Trump, who was elected president of the US on November 8 last year. The two leaders have spoken on phone at least thrice since Trump assumed office on January 20.
The meeting comes in the background of Trump exiting the Paris climate agreement, and accusing India of trying to extract “billions and billions and billions” of dollars in foreign aid from the developed world as a precondition to joining the 2015 climate pact. Following Trump’s comments, Modi said on June 2 that India is committed to the climate pact. When asked if he will side with the US or the other nations in the Paris deal, he said, “It is not a question of which way I go. I will go with the future generations.”
“Their [Modi and Trump’s] discussions will provide a new direction for deeper bilateral engagement on issues of mutual interest and consolidation of multi-dimensional strategic partnership between India and the US,” External Affairs Ministry said in a press release on Twitter.
Rebutting Donald Trump’s allegations, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had said that India signed the Paris climate agreement because of commitment and not for monetary benefits or under pressure. “What Trump said is not the reality. India has not signed PCA under duress or any other reason, but solely for the environment,” she said.
On June 2, reports had said that Indian and US officials have already been in touch about the climate pact, with frantic phone calls and cables being exchanged between the two countries immediately after Trump’s announcement.
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