PM Modi's Visit To US Big Deal, America Is Excited: USIBC President

US-India Business Council (USIBC) President Atul Keshap said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit is a big deal as it is only the third state visit from India so far and the whole country is excited.

Speaking ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official state visit to the US from June 21 to 24 where President Joe Biden will host him at the White House, US-India Business Council (USIBC) President Atul Keshap said that the Prime Minister's visit is a big deal being only the third state visit from India so far. He added that the whole country is excited about the development. Keshap spoke aboout the initiative on critical and emerging technologies that are being undertaken, which he termed "as important as the nuclear deal". "It is as consequential strategically as the nuclear deal," he added. The upcoming visit is PM Modi's first official visit to the US in nine years. 

"India and the United States can be the arsenals of democracy in the Eastern and Western hemispheres, ensuring strength, and through strength, we deter any potential conflict. The two governments are working very hard, they are deeply invested in ensuring that we can take our defence and technology relationship to the next level," the President of the US-India Business Council (USIBC) told news agency ANI.

"The world is watching. This is only the third state visit from India to the United States  It is a big deal. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is coming here. The whole country and city are excited and buzzing here at the Chamber, at USIBC, we're buzzing about it... I think both governments are putting full effort in. I think they are focusing on the important things," he added.

Keshap went on recall the hostile relations between India and the United States in the past to highlight the advances made in establishing friendly ties.

"President Radhakrishnan came here on the first state visit from India in 1963. Dr. Manmohan Singh came in 2009 for a state visit, and this is just the third. So this is a really big deal in the way that the United States treats honoured visitors diplomatically. State visits are reserved for our closest friends," he said.

"We used to have a very difficult relationship back in the days... now our relationship is fantastic. We are now Quad partners together. We are now working on bringing the industrial convergence of our two great societies together to ensure that the deep tech and future tech of the 21st century is developed and designed by Americans and Indians for the happiness and prosperity of all of the free people of the world," he added.

The President of the US-India Business Council mentioned that both US and India have a "shared strategic perspective" across the Indo-pacific and both countries are doing a lot and continue to do a lot more together.

"If you look at the initiative on critical and emerging technologies that we helped launch here at the US Chamber back in January with the two national Security Advisors, Jake Sullivan and Ajit Doval, that is to me as important as the nuclear deal. It is as consequential strategically as the nuclear deal. We have actually innovated in a very important way. Our two governments have learnt the lessons of the pandemic and they realise we have to have secure and stable supply chains, especially on deep tech and future tech that our free citizens will rely on across the 21st century," he added.

Previously, PM Modi met former US presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump at the White House. However, those meetings were not state visits.