President Biden may host PM Modi for state dinner this summer: Report

New Delhi: US President Joe Biden intends to welcome Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a state dinner this summer, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.

According to the Bloomberg report, the White House aims to host the state dinner in June but the timing could slip. A spokesman for the National Security Council declined to comment, added the report.

The official state visit is a sign of the strengthening ties between the US and India as the administration promotes policies and initiatives for a free and open Indo-Pacific in response to what it perceives as a growing threat from China.

The dinner with PM Modi will be President Biden’s third formal state visit and dinner, following one he hosted for French President Emmanuel Macron in December and one for South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol scheduled for 26 April.

President Biden is also expected to see PM Modi in Australia in May when they convene for the Quad summit along with the leaders of Australia and Japan.

The US and India last month announced an Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology, a plan to share advanced defense and computing technology, including the joint production of General Electric Co. jet engines.

The partnership on critical technologies is intended in part to counter Russian influence in India by reducing its historic reliance on Moscow for military hardware, and China’s growing assertiveness. US political leaders of both parties have sought to strengthen ties with PM Modi.

“The China-Russia factors are real, but so is the idea of building a deep, democratic ecosystem of high technology,” Bloomberg report quoted National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan as saying to reporters when previewing the partnership.

“So, geopolitics doesn’t sit off to the side, but it’s not a comprehensive explanation for what’s at work here,” Sullivan added.

In September, India will host the summit of the Group of 20 leaders in New Delhi, where the invasion of Ukraine by Russia will be one of the main subjects of conversation. It’s not yet clear if Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend the gathering.

With inputs from agencies

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