UNGA General Debate Begins Today, PM Modi & Joe Biden Set To Meet On Sept 24

The maiden bilateral meeting with US President Joe Biden will be held on September 24, 2021, the first since Biden became the president though both have spoken virtually on multiple occasions.

Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi & President of United States Joe Biden

New Delhi: The 76th United Nations General Assembly begins today which will be attended by more than 100 countries including India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to speak at the General Assembly on September 25, 2021. He has a hectic week ahead of him with the three-day US trip is set to begin this week.

Ahead of this, the maiden bilateral meeting with US President Joe Biden will be held on September 24, 2021. Later that day, Biden will host the first-ever in-person Quad Leaders' Summit at the White House with Modi, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. The same night, Biden will host a gala dinner.

A day ahead of the meet with Biden, US Vice-President Kamala Harris will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on September 23 at the White House. This will be the first meeting between the two leaders. Harris had earlier spoken with Modi over the phone during the COVID-19 crisis.

Modi will also meet one-on-one with five chief executives of top American companies on September 23 which may include Apple Inc CEO Tim Cook while other names are yet to be finalized. According to media reports, the same day, Modi will also have bilateral meetings with Suga and Morrison.

This will be Biden and Modi’s first meeting since he became the president though both have spoken virtually on multiple occasions. He has met Biden before, on his first visit to the US as prime minister in 2014. Biden was vice-president at the time in the administration of President Barack Obama. The last telephone conversation between Prime Minister Modi and President Biden took place on April 26.

"The leaders will be focused on strengthening the deep ties between their people and shared democratic values that have underpinned the special bond between the United States and India for more than seven decades," a White House official told PTI.

"The Biden-Harris administration has enhanced our partnership with India by working together to uphold a free and open Indo-Pacific, leading efforts to end the COVID-19 pandemic, and taking concerted action to address the climate crisis," the official said.

Shortly after the gala dinner, PM Modi will on his way for New York because he will address the General Debate on September 25. India will use its voice at the high-level United Nations General Assembly to forcefully take up global issues such as terrorism, climate change, equitable and affordable access to vaccines, Indo-Pacific and UN reforms, the country's envoy to the world organisation has said.

The COVID-19 pandemic and developments in Afghanistan are expected to dominate the 76th UNGA session, India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador T S Tirumurti told PTI. The 76th UNGA is an important occasion for India for many reasons. There is an expectation that India, as the leading voice of the developing world as well as the current member of the UN Security Council, will use its voice to take up global issues forcefully.

Tirumurti said Prime Minister Modi's speech at the General Assembly "is one of the most awaited among the world leaders. While what he decides to say is entirely his prerogative and I don't want to second guess, the Prime Minister has always addressed some of the core issues confronting the world, and those of importance and concerns to us, including some of the achievements on the domestic front.

India will participate in three high-level meetings organised by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Climate, Energy and Food Systems. Guterres and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will hold a closed-door Informal Climate Leaders Roundtable on Climate Action on Monday with a small and representative group of Heads of State and Government.