PM Modi's visit will affirm deep, close partnership between India and US: White House

Washington: The Official State Visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the US will strengthen the shared commitment to a prosperous and secure Indo-Pacific region and affirm the deep and close partnership between the two largest democracies of the world, the White House said hours before the formal welcome ceremony for the Indian leader on the White House lawns.

President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will be greeting Prime Minister Modi for the Official Arrival Ceremony on the South Lawn which includes a 21-gun salute.

Modi is on an Official State Visit from June 21-23 at the invitation of President Joe Biden and the First Lady.

“This visit will affirm the deep and close partnership between the US and India and the warm bonds of family and friendship that link Americans and Indians together,” a senior administration official told reporters here.

“The visit will strengthen our two countries' shared commitment to free, open, prosperous and secure Indo-Pacific and our shared resolve to elevate our Strategic Technology Partnership, including in defence, clean energy, and space,” the official said.

The US, India and several other world powers have been talking about the need to ensure a free, open and thriving Indo-Pacific in the backdrop of China's rising military manoeuvring in the region.

The leaders will discuss ways to further expand the educational exchanges and people-to-people ties, as well as work together to confront common challenges from climate change to workforce development to help security.

“As the world's oldest and largest democracies and key security providers in the Indo-Pacific, the US and India are increasingly partners of the first resort as a combined force for global good both in the Indo-Pacific and elsewhere. India will be a critical strategic partner for the US in the coming decades,” said the official.

India's growing commitment to playing a more engaged international role, including in the Indo-Pacific and Quad demonstrates a new and growing willingness to join the US to protect and advance a shared vision of a free, open and rule-based rules-based global order.

The Quad or Quadrilateral Security Dialogue comprises India, the US, Japan and Australia.

“As a strong maritime democracy, we work with India, Japan, Australia and other countries in advancing our mutual interest. As we think about the future of AI, quantum computing and building resilient supply chains for clean energy technologies, semiconductors and other critical and emerging technology, countering climate crisis, the future of our workforces, and global health, energy and food security, there is no partner more consequential now and into the future than India,” said the senior White House official.

The Biden administration is hosting India for an Official State Visit to put the cooperation on an inexorable trajectory.

“After years of strengthening ties in a bipartisan context, the US-India partnership is deeper and more expansive than it ever has been. We now...work cooperatively to uphold a free and open Indo-Pacific to drive innovation, and to jointly tackle global challenges as the world emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic. Together and working with other like-minded partners, our countries will shape the future by working towards a world that is open, prosperous, secure, stable and resilient,” said the official.