President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will host India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi for an official state visit on June 22, including a state dinner, the White House Announced Wednesday.
«The upcoming visit will reaffirm the close and deep partnership between the United States and India and the warm ties of family and friendship that unite Americans and Indians,» the White House said in a statement.
«The visit will strengthen our two countries’ shared commitment to a free, open, prosperous and secure Indo-Pacific and our shared determination to elevate our strategic technology partnership, including in defense, clean energy and space.»
Modi and Biden «will discuss ways to further expand our educational exchanges and people-to-people ties, as well as our work together to address the common challenges of climate change, workforce development, and health security,» according to the White House.
The Indian Embassy in the US did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the planned visit.
The announcement comes as Biden prepares to meet Modi at the Quad Leaders Summit in Sydney, Australia on May 24.
Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will also attend. The four countries represented at the Quad Summit are expected to establish areas of continued collaboration in the Indo-Pacific region during a time of rising tension between the United States and China.
The two world leaders previously met in Tokyo, Japanin May 2022, to reaffirm their commitment to work together on a variety of global issues, including climate change, economic engagement, and Russia’s war in Ukraine.
That meeting came a month after Biden spoke to Modi during a video call in which he asked his Indian counterpart not to push for oil purchases from Russia and offered to help the country diversify its energy sources.
The Russia-Ukraine war and other issues, such as New Delhi’s handling of human rights, have strained ties between the United States and India. India has maintained a neutral stance on the war in Ukraine.
However, the US and India are aligned on certain goals, including countering China’s growing influence in the region.
India and China have had multiple disputes along their border in recent years. In June 2020, India said 20 soldiers were killed in a border clash, marking the first deaths in 53 years of fighting between the two powerful nations.