PM Narendra Modi's schedule will include meetings with business leaders and Indian expats.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi received in a rousing welcome in New York on Tuesday and held meetings with several CEOs, intellectuals and academics.
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"Landed in New York City. Looking forward to the programmes here including interaction with thought leaders and the Yoga Day programme tomorrow, 21st June," the Prime Minister Modi tweeted after landing.
At the airport, he was seen shaking hands with a huge group of Indian expats who had gathered to welcome him. Outside his hotel, another crowd of expats were seen waiting. Many were seen holding impromptu dances to while away the time.
The Prime Minister is now meeting 24 "thought leaders", including Nobel laureates, economists, artists, scientists, scholars, entrepreneurs, academicians, health sector experts and others.
He has already met Tesla founder Elon Musk who is hoping to invest in India, author Jeff Smith, Michael Froman, essayist and statistician Professor Nassim Nicholas Taleb. "It was excellent and a very good conversation. I am planning to visit India next year," Elon Musk told news agency PTI after meeting PM Modi
Among the others PM Modi would meet are astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, Grammy award-winning Indian-American singer Falu (Falguni Shah), .Senior Vice President of the World Bank Paul Romer, American billionaire investor Ray Dalio, American physician, Nobel Laureate, molecular biologist Dr Peter Agre and Grammy-nominated artist Chandrika Tandon.
PM Modi is the third Indian to be invited for a state visit, seen as the highest form of expression of friendly ties and is reserved only for closest allies. A state visit involves an invitation by the Head of a State to his official residence – PM Modi is having a family dinner with the Bidens at the White House on Wednesday.
Besides the rare address to the joint session of the US Congress and dinner at the White House, the Prime Minister's schedule will include meetings with business leaders and Indian expats.
On Wednesday morning, the Prime Minister would lead the yoga event at the UN building on the occasion of the World Yoga Day. On Friday, he will address a gathering of expat leaders from across US at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington.
The visit indicates the deepening ties between the two nations in multiple fields and assumes further significance in view of the continuing war in Ukraine. PM Modi is the third world leader after France's Emmanuel Macron and South Korea's Yoon Suk Yeol to be invited by President Biden for a state visit and dinner.
Executive Director, Observer Research Foundation America, Dhruva Jaishankar said this visit will showcase how broad the relationship is between India and US. Further, while speaking about the China factor in India-US ties he said India US are not defining themselves because of China.
