Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the United States from June 21 to June 24 at the invitation of US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden. The visit - his sixth - marks an important point in the bilateral relationship between the two countries, according to MyGov, the Government's Citizen Engagement Platform.
On June 22, PM Modi will address a joint session of the United States Congress, the first Indian Prime Minister to do so twice. The invitation to deliver the historic speech was extended by both the House of Representatives and the Senate, demonstrating bipartisan support and respect for PM Modi in the United States. The prime minister had earlier addressed the US Congress in 2016.
"No Indian prime minister has addressed it twice. So, it will be the first time. World over also, very few people have done that... Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela. So, there are very few people who have addressed the US Congress twice. That's why its importance is huge," External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Saturday.
Another standout aspect of PM Modi's visit is that he will be the second Indian Prime Minister to have the honour of a state visit. He is also the third world leader, after France's Emmanuel Macron and South Korea's Yoon Suk Yeol, to be invited by President Joe Biden for a state visit and dinner -- the highest ranked diplomatic reception typically reserved for only the closest of allies. The visit signifies the "highest level of honour" and it has happened only twice in India's history, Mr Jaishankar added.
PM Modi is the third Indian leader to make a state visit to the US. The previous two state visits were made by former president Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan in June 1963 and former prime minister Manmohan Singh in November 2009.
This will be Narendra Modi's first state visit to the US during his nine years as Prime Minister.
Prime Minister Modi's previous visits to the US were classified as a working visit (2014), working lunch (2016) and official working visit (2017). His 2019 visit is described by the US Department of State website as one in which he "Participated in a rally in Houston, Texas".
The US extending the honour to India shows how crucial India is for the US' effort to develop a strong countervailing force to China in the Indo-Pacific.
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