New Delhi: PM Narendra Modi will travel to Bhutan later this month in his first foreign visit after assuming power and he will hold a Summit meeting with US President Barack Obama in the last week of September.
The invitation for Modi to visit the US came during the congratulatory call to PM by Obama after the Lok Sabha election results were out. A date was offered by the US side for the meeting and both the countries are working on it,” official sources said.
It is understood that Washington has proposed September 30 as the date for the meeting but the Indian side is looking at clubbing the bilateral meeting with Modi’s visit to the US for the United Nations General Assembly around September 26.
Sources said that an official team will be leaving for Thimphu on Friday to work out the relevant logistics and does the ground work for PM’s visit. The visit is set to take place after the ongoing Parliament session ends, possibly in mid June. Modi’s calendar was worked upon and once his schedule was cleared, the trip was planned.
Of all the countries that had invited him, sources said PM Modi was keen to begin by visiting a neighbouring country. And although Nepal and Pakistan figured high on the list, Bhutan was chosen above all countries.
US President Obama on the other hand was among the first foreign leaders to call up Modi and congratulated him on his “emphatic election victory” and said the largest democracy in the world has given a decisive mandate.
The US President also wished that under Modi’s leadership, India will contribute significantly at the global stage. Both the leaders had discussed the India-US Strategic Partnership and the prevailing global economic situation.
The call was the first high-level contact between Modi and the US leadership ever since 2005 when the Gujarat chief minister had been denied a US visa due to his alleged complicity in the 2002 riots in the state. Modi is also likely to travel to Brazil to participate in the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) summit in mid July.
Bureau Report
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