PM Modi US visit from Sep 21 to 23: Importance for India
Ahmedabad, Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi is visiting United States of America from September 21-23 to attend fourth Quad leaders’ summit in Wilmington, Delaware.
The visit is going to be very important for India in many ways and will focus on geopolitical issues like Quad and peace efforts in Russia – Ukraine war, economic issues, technological collaboration in field of high end technology including semiconductor, India’s demand for permanent seat at UN Security Council, US politics /upcoming US election and also Indian politics. The event is likely to be covered by media in great detail. Some of the important events, discussions and take away could be:
Quad Summit 2025 at Wilmington
Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) is an informal strategic forum involving India, United States, Japan and Australia. The multilateral forum is important for India as it aims to counter China’s growing influence in South China Sea and Indo-Pacific region. Quad strengthens India’s maritime security initiatives and helps in safeguarding Indian Ocean Region.
It provides India with a diplomatic platform to engage with major powers in the group like USA, Japan and Australia. Quad fosters defense cooperation through joint military exercise and gives India access to latest military technology. It also helps in economic collaboration, focusses on building resilient supply chains and promote ‘Make in India’ initiative.
The fourth Quad Summit is being hosted by US President Mr. Joe Biden on 21st Sept. 2024. The Summit is also important as it will be farewell meeting for Mr. Biden who has declined to participate in next US Presidential Elections and also for Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida who will finish his term by end of the month.
The location of the Summit i.e. Wilmington, Delaware is very important for Mr. Joe Biden as it is his home town and he was always keen to bring the world leaders with whom he had developed a rapport, at his home town. At the Summit the leaders will review the success achieved by the Quad over the last one year and set the agenda for next year. Based on USA request, India has agreed to host the next Quad summit in 2025.
India is in a process to normalize the relations with China and there have been some positive news from the Northern Borders as related to troop withdrawal. China is the second largest economy in the world and India can’t afford to be at loggerheads with China always. Economic cooperation with China, though in controlled manner, is in India’s interest. In addition it is also engaging with China at SCO and BRICS Summit. Keeping this in mind, Mr. Modi is not likely to resort to China basting in the Summit and will tread cautiously on this aspect.
PM Modi Address to Indian Diaspora
During the visit of Mr. Modi to New York, the major focus would be the address to India Diaspora on 22nd Sept 2024. Mr. Modi is aware that this event will generate maximum media coverage in India and the vote bank in India would be listening to each and every word which Mr. Modi speaks to Indian Diaspora in New York.
Some 15000 people are expected to be at the gathering and listening to Mr. Modi. His talk is titled as ‘Modi and US progress together’ with the stated aim as common cultural ethos of US and India. This is the fifth time Mr. Modi would be addressing the India Diaspora in US. The event is intended to be non-political with no elected law makers invited however the Indian connection of Miss Kamla Harris, the Democratic President Nominee and Miss Usha Van wife of the Republican Vice President nominee JD Van can not be missed out.
Most Indians fondly remember ‘Howdi Modi’ event with President Trump in Houston in 2019 where he addressed the gathering with Mr Trump before the last term US Presidential Elections. This address is likely to generate some interest for Republicans in USA as next presidential elections are round the corner. Mr. Trump has already made a statement that his friend Mr. Modi is coming to meet him at USA. The impact and reach of Indian Diaspora is important to both Republicans and Democrats.
PM Modi Address at UN General Assembly, New York:
On 23 Sept. PM Modi will address the ‘Summit of the Future’ at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The theme of the Summit is ‘Multilateral Solutions for a Better Tomorrow’. The Summit will be attended by a large number of Global leaders.
UNGA address is very important to India due to its claim for Permanent seat in UN Security Council, an addition to the list of P5 nations. India claims the seat because it has one sixth of global population, was a founding member of UNO, one of the largest UN Peace keeping force, emerging economic and military power and has a robust foreign policy. These along with the substantial increase in International clout as related to peace mediation in Ukraine – Russia war, victory at International Court of Justice elections and International Yoga day which was celebrated in 177 countries, India’s claim is justified. Mr. Modi will certainly press hard for this, if not in summit address, then in bilateral talks with other world leaders which is scheduled in the meet.
Bilateral Meets with world leaders and Economic Agenda.
While in New York, Mr. Modi would be holding bilateral meetings with several world leaders and discuss the issues of mutual interests. In addition he would also interact with CEOs of leading US based companies to foster greater collaboration in the emerging fields of AI, Quantum Computing, semiconductors and biotechnology. India aims to be world leader in AI, software’s, bio- technology and service industry and such meetings and technological collaborations are very good for India’s future. India is looking for major investment by US based companies in semiconductors manufacturing and designing and also US is looking for partners for semiconductors manufacturing to reduce reliance on China in this field. For the service industry and also skilled manpower in technical field, Indians are most suitable due to their better skills, technical bent of mind and capability to merge in US Society in contrast to many other immigrants.
Overall Mr. Modi visit to US from Sept. 21 to 23rd is going to be much read and watched event in India. It is likely to bring many take aways and increase India’s clout in international arena. Mr. Modi is also going to counter few of Mr. Rahul Gandhi statements from his visit to USA this month, which would be worth reading and watching.
- By Col (Dr) Rakesh Kumar Shrivastawa (Registrar, Pandit Deendayal Energy University, Gandhinagar Gujarat)
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author’s own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of Western Times.
