New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is on a 3-day visit to America received a warm welcome at the airport by senior officials of the Biden Administration and India's Ambassador to the US.
PM Modi was greeted on arrival by Taranjit Singh Sandhu, Ambassador of India to the USA, and T. H. Brian McKeon, US Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources.
Despite heavy rains since early in the morning, a significant number of Indian Americans were also there at the Andrews Joint Airforce Base to welcome the Prime Minister.
Prime Minister Modi has a packed agenda over the next three days.
PM Modi's Day 1 Schedule in the US
Meeting with top 5 American CEOs (7 PM- 9 PM IST)
On Thursday, the Prime Minister is scheduled to hold one-on-one meetings with the top five American CEOs.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said he would highlight economic opportunities in India during his meetings with CEOs in US.
Two of them are Indian Americans -- Shantanu Narayen from Adobe and Vivek Lall from General Atomics. The three others being Cristiano E Amon from Qualcomm, Mark Widmar from First Solar, and Stephen A Schwarzman from Blackstone.
The Prime Minister's meeting with American CEOs from five different key areas is reflective of the priorities of his government.
According to ANI, Prime Minister will start the day with meetings with select heads of corporates in the United States.
An ANI source mentioned, "I think these are CEOs that represent fairly large corporate interests, companies that have particular expertise and invested in India and has the potential to invest significantly in India."
"They represent diverse areas from technology, the IT sector to finance to defence to renewable energy. I think it is a very good mix of CEOs, that would be meeting Prime Minister Modi on a one-to-one basis, investments in the United States have been very important and very significant in India's recent development activities in line with our major economic initiatives, the flagship program. In particular what we call Make in India," the source further added.
Meeting with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison (11 PM IST)
On Thursday afternoon, Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to meet Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. They have met on a number of occasions on the sidelines of various international conferences, Prime Minister Morrison recently called Prime Minister Modi to brief him about the plan to go ahead with the AUKUS Alliance.
An ANI source said, "And I think, you know this meeting has been long overdue because Prime Minister Morrison was to visit India in January last year but he couldn't be here, he could not make it because of the fairly severe fires at that time in parts of Australia. He was then supposed to come in May last year but because of the COVID situation he could not make it."
PM Modi to meet US Vice President Kamal Harris (1 AM IST)
Prime Minister Modi will meet US Vice Present Kamal Harris late at night on September 23. This will be the first meeting between the two leaders. Harris had earlier spoken with Modi over the phone in June during the COVID-19 crisis.
Harris is the first woman, the first Black American, and the first South Asian American to be elected Vice President.
"During my visit, I will review the India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership with President Biden and exchange views on regional and global issues of mutual interest," Modi said just before leaving for the US.
"I am also looking forward to meeting Vice President Kamala Harris to explore opportunities for cooperation between our two nations particularly in the area of science and technology," said Modi, who is visiting the US at the invitation of President Biden.
Biden will host PM Modi at the White House on September 24, this is going to be the first in-person meeting between the two leaders after Biden took over as the US President on January 20.