iNDICA NEWS BUREAU-
India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri on Thursday, September 19, said that the upcoming U.S. visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Quad summit emphasizes several important aspects, and asserted that the agenda of the summit includes developing Indo-Pacific region, and implementing Sustainable Development Goals.
Elaborating on the events which will be taking place in the U.S. during Modi’s visit, Misri said, “PM Modi will be visiting the US from September 21-23. This visit combines very important aspects. It has very important bilateral aspect to it, very important plurilateral aspects to it and equally important multilateral aspect to it. There will be interaction with a variety of foreign partners at the level of the Prime Minister. There will be interaction with the large Indian diaspora in the US. And there will be engagement with a host of business and industry leaders, amongst others.”
He added, “PM’s first talk will be in Wilmington, Delaware, which is the hometown of President Joe Biden. That is also the venue of this sixth Quad summit.” Misri further informed that from Wilmington, the PM will travel to New York to attend the Summit of the Future.
He said Modi will also have a number of engagements throughout these three days. “On September 21, there will be Quad summit; the bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the Quad summit. A special event on the sidelines of Quad summit will be Cancer Moonshot event. On September 22, PM will have an interaction with the Indian diaspora. This is being organized by the community in Long Island, New York.”
Speaking on the objective of the Cancer Moonshot initiative, Misri said, “Through the Cancer Moonshot initiative, the Quad aims to implement innovative strategies to prevent, detect, treat, and alleviate the impact of cancer on patients and their families, and to begin with, we intend to collaborate to reduce the burden of cervical cancer in the Indo-Pacific region.”
The Foreign Secretary also said that PM Modi will engage with several tech CEOs during his three-day visit. “There will be a technology roundtable with a number of tech CEOs where we will have the opportunity to discuss the tech investment landscape and the opportunities that are available here,” Misri said. “There will be several other meetings with stakeholders and bilateral meetings with head of states,” he added.
“On September 23, PM will address the Summit of the Future in the United Nations General Assembly. There are a few more bilateral meetings that are being fixed up on that day,” Misri informed.
Elaborating on the agenda of Quad, Misri said that the Quad’s constructive agenda continues to “develop the Indo-Pacific, implementing Sustainable Development Goals, delivering public goods, and having a strong focus on peace, prosperity and stability in the Indo-Pacific region”.
He added, “Our agenda includes covering health security, climate change, critical and emerging technology, HADR, connectivity, maritime security, and counter-terrorism.”
The Foreign Secretary also noted that the upcoming visit offers the Quad leaders, the opportunity to view progress achieved in the last one year and set the agenda for the next year.
Elaborating on the bilateral meetings with President Biden, Misri said that the India and U.S. will exchange agreements. “At the bilateral meeting with President Joe Biden, there will be an opportunity for both sides to exchange a few agreements — Indo-Pacific economy related framework agreements, and India-US drug framework,” Misri said.
On the possibility of meeting with former U.S. President Donald Trump, Misri said, “There are many meetings with the Prime Minister right now which we are trying to fix. Right now, I will not be able to tell you about any specific meeting, whether the meeting has been fixed or not. We are looking from all angles as to how much time we have and with whom we can hold meetings. We will keep updating you about the meetings.”
