'Will present India as a global leader': PM Modi begins week-long US visit

Promising to present India as reliable partner and a global leader, Prime minister Narendra Modi on Friday began his week-long US visit as he emplaned for Houston, capital of southern American state of Texas, on Friday evening.

An event where he is scheduled to address massive crowd of Indian diaspora community in Houston on Sunday is first of his many engagements in the United States. US President Donald Trump and several lawmakers are expected to join the Prime Minister at the 'Howdy, Modi' event. 

Ahead of the visit, PM said his aim will be to present India as a global leader and reiterate New Delhi's commitment to reformed multilateralism.

In his departure statement, PM Modi said, "I am confident that my visit would present India as a vibrant land of opportunities, a reliable partner and a global leader, and will also help impart new energy to our relations with the US."

Modi will be meeting around 45 world leaders from all parts of the world -- from neighbourhood to extended neighbourhood to Latin America. 

He will be meeting President Trump on Tuesday in New York for a bilateral. This will be his third bilateral meet with US President this year, after meeting on the sidelines of G20 summit in Japan and G7 summit in France.

PM Modi in the statement said he looks forward to meeting with President Trump in Houston and New York.

"The US is a vital partner for our national development, with rich possibilities of partnership in education, skills, research, technology and innovation, and an enabler for India in economic growth and national security....Working together, we can contribute to building a more peaceful, stable, secure, sustainable and prosperous world," he said. 

The visit from September 21 to 27 will focus on climate change, energy, trade, participation at multilateral events and also includes his address to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). 

Overall, the three main focus points of the visit will be multilateral engagements at United Nations and bilateral component in the United States which include meeting with businesses, diaspora and US political leadership and bilateral meeting in New York.

Speaking to media in the Houston, Indian envoy to the US, Harsh V Shringla, said, "Prime minister has a comprehensive programme in the US. He arrives in Houston this Saturday and soon after he arrives, he has an event to meet top CEOs of Energy companies. Houston is the global hub for energy. Our cooperation with the US has increased significantly because of our interest in US crude oil and energy."

Sunday will see him participating in "Howdy, Modi" diaspora event, which will be the largest gathering of people for a visiting democratically-elected leader. According to the organisers, 50,000 people have registered for the event, mostly Indian-Americans. 

"I look forward to my meeting with and address to the Indian-American community. Their success in diverse fields, their contribution to the US in various walks of life, their strong bonds with India and their role as a living bridge," Modi said. 

Tuesday will see the focus on 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi with the launch of Gandhi Solar park in the premises of United Nation Headquarters. Gandhi Solar Park has 193 panels representing the UN member nations and has been built with Indian government's grant of US $1 million. 

Solar panels gifted from India, are installed on the roof of the UN. The panels are powered up to reach the max of 50 KW of generation power. With an output of 86244 Kwh it equals to 61 metric tons of CO2 or 30,242 kg of coal burned carbon sequestered from 1008 tree seedlings grown over 10 years. A UN postage stamp will be released and Gandhi Peace Garden to be inaugurated in New York State university remotely.

PM Modi will address the United Nations General Assembly on September 27, anytime after 8 pm IST.

"This is PM's first visit to the United States after the re-election of the government, and Prime Minister is going to UNGA with solid achievements in previous five years in sustainable development goals. Our intention is to showcase progress made on climate change, universal health coverage, sanitation etc. and convey expectation from other countries and understand their aspirations," Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale. 

Adding, "PM is also of the view that it is important to play the role that his expected of India in shaping the global agenda--both political and socio-economic. PM will again reiterate a position India has been saying for a long time, and that is multilateralism is at the centre of global politics and it should remain so."

Two important summits will take place -- the 3rd India Pacific Island Summit and the 1st India Caribbean summit. The focus will also be on investments with PM meeting CEOs of 45 US companies like Amway Corp, Bank of America, Coca Cola, Deloitte, IBM, Cisco Systems Inc, JPMorgan & Chase, Lockheed Martin, Marriott International, MasterCard, Microsoft, Visa, Walmart Retail.

This is the first visit to the US by PM Modi in his second term. In his first term, PM Modi visited the US twice in 2014 and 2015.

No meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan will take place, who is also in New York for the UNGA week given the current climate between the 2 countries.

Pakistani PM lands in New York on Saturday and will hold a trilateral summit with leaders of Malaysia and Turkey.

Islamabad has already made its intention clear that they will raise Kashmir.

In a press release Pakistani foriegn ministry said, "The Prime Minister will deliver his address to the UN General Assembly on Friday, 27 September, and share Pakistan’s perspective and position on the Jammu and Kashmir."

So far, Pakistan has not got any traction by raising Kashmir. Infact, dispite claiming to have a support of 50 countries, it could not muster any support to bring a resolution on Kashmir at UN Human rights council in Geneva, Switzerland.