"Couldn't Get... ": S Jaishankar On Joe Biden Not Attending Republic Day Program

With US President Joe Biden not able to make it to India in late January due to "scheduling demands", External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that the visit was tied to the proposed Quad Summit and indicated that the dates did not work with all partners.

In an interview with ANI, Mr Jaishankar said that could not get "a landing zone" there and couldn't get "everything agreed by everybody".

"You know I think that was a different issue. because you know it was tied to Quad also and we couldn't get a landing zone there...we couldn't get everything agreed with everybody. So, therefore it didn't work," Mr Jaishankar said.

He was asked if Biden could have come for the Republic Day parade and there could have been "Namaste Biden" event on the lines of the huge "Namaste Trump" event held in Ahmedabad to welcome the then US President Donald Trump during his visit to India in 2020.

Sources had said earlier that Quad (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue) Summit, which was slated to be hosted by India in January, is now proposed to be held later in 2024. They had said that revised dates were under consideration as the current ones do not work with all the QUAD partners.

US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti had said in September that Biden was invited to India for Republic Day celebrations. He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended invitation to Biden on the sidelines of the G20 Summit held in Delhi in September.

French President Emmanuel Macron, will be visiting India as the Chief Guest for the January 26 Republic Day celebrations at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Macron thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the invitation.

India and the US held the fifth India-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue in November. India and the United States have a comprehensive global strategic partnership covering almost all areas of human endeavour, driven by shared democratic values, convergence of interests on a range of issues, and vibrant people-to-people contacts.

During Biden's visit to Delhi for the G20 Summit, India and the US also settled the seventh and last outstanding World Trade Organisation (WTO) dispute. Notably, the six previous disputes were resolved during PM Modi's state visit to the US.

The two leaders reaffirmed the close reaffirming the close and enduring partnership between India and the United States, according to the India-US joint statement. The two leaders expressed their "appreciation for the substantial progress underway to implement the groundbreaking achievements of Prime Minister Modi's historic, June 2023, visit to Washington."

The two leaders commended the progress in implementing the futuristic and wide-ranging outcomes of PM Modi's State visit to the US in June 2023, including under the India-US Initiative for Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET).

PM Modi made a significant visit to the United States in June last year, engaging in high-level talks with President Biden. The discussions centred on bolstering the Indo-US strategic partnership, with an emphasis on trade, defence collaboration, and technology transfer. They announced several key initiatives, including joint efforts in renewable energy and climate change mitigation.

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