- Sunday, February 23, 2025
‘The nature of the encounter is still fluid because so much of the schedule is fluid’, the US national security adviser said abroad Air Force One while heading for Italy.
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIAN prime minister Narendra Modi and US president Joe Biden would likely “have the opportunity to encounter one another” on the sidelines of the G7 summit kicking off in Italy on Thursday (13), the US’s national security advisor (NSA), Jake Sullivan, said in Washington on Wednesday (12).
“He (Biden) expects to see prime minister Modi here. It’s up to the Indians to formally confirm his attendance, but our expectation is that the two of them will have the opportunity to encounter one another. The nature of that encounter is still fluid because so much of the schedule is fluid,” Sullivan told reporters aboard Air Force One on his way to Italy to attend the G7 Summit, along with Biden.
Indian foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra told reporters in New Delhi that Modi would travel to Italy on Thursday in his first overseas trip after assuming office for a third consecutive term on June 9.
Read: A day before Modi’s visit for G7, Gandhi bust vandalised in Italy
Italy has invited India to attend the 50th G7 Summit on June 14 as an Outreach Country.
Modi would meet his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni, Kwatra confirmed. However, details of bilateral or meetings with other leaders are still being worked out, he said.
Aboard Air Force One, Sullivan told reporters that Biden spoke with Modi over phone while they were in Paris to congratulate him on the election outcome and on being sworn in as prime minister for a third term.
Read: Modi to visit Italy for G7, his first foreign trip in new term
Responding to a question on allegations related to the involvement of an Indian official in a plot to assassinate a Sikh separatist leader, the NSA said the US would continue to raise the matter at the highest level.
“We have made our views known on this issue, and it will be a continuing topic of dialogue between the US and India, including at very senior levels,” Sullivan added.
Modi and Biden had an eventful meeting in Hiroshima in Japan during the G7 summit in May last year, just a month before the Indian PM was hosted by the American president over an official visit to the US.
They also met in New Delhi in September during the G20 summit.
