New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is ending a 9 year ban — his 2005 visa was revoked by the US — when he heads, Thursday into the United States on an official visit from September 26 to 30 that includes a dinner and a reception hosted in his honour in New York and Washington.
In his departure statement, Modi described the United States as a vital partner in its national development", hailed US President Barack Obama's "life journey" as " an inspiration for people around the world", and hoped the visit would "mark the start of a new chapter in the strategic partnership" between the two countries.
Left unsaid is whether Modi and Obama, meeting each other for the first time, will discuss how to jointly fight the threat posed by Islamic terror networks, old and new, in India’s immediate neighbourhood of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh; and what assurances the Indian premier, with his brute majority in the lower house will offer on the nuclear liability bill, and the defense deals that the US is pushing for. One of the key invitees at the Modi-Obama meet is U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.
