With Lok Sabha elections months away, the visits are vital politically as these would showcase Modi's standing as a world leader to the home electorate.
The Quad summit to be hosted by India in 2024 is likely to enhance New Delhi's strategic intent.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Thursday made a strong push for reforming multilateral institutions, including the United Nations, and spoke glowingly of India's ties with the United States, saying the two countries stand at a new dawn in their relationship that will not only shape their destiny but also that of the world.
The prime minister, who is visiting the US at the invitation of President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden, will join them for the state banquet along with a number of dignitaries on Thursday.
Describing India as one of the most important partners of the United States in the Indo-Pacific region, the Biden Administration on Tuesday said that it welcomes India's emergence as a leading global power and its role as a net security provider in the region.
Blinken and Indian leaders on Wednesday will discuss a plethora of pressing issues such as the fluid situation in Afghanistan, regional security concerns, COVID-19 response and ways to boost Indo-Pacific engagement, people familiar with the agenda of talks said.
The memorandum of understanding on mutual logistics support is the first such major agreement that Vietnam has signed with any country.
There was no word on the much-anticipated procurement of 26 naval variants of Rafale fighter jets by India from France.
A top Republican lawmaker has welcomed India signing a trade deal with Australia, and urged the Biden administration to enter into a similar arrangement with New Delhi that can advance Washington's strong economic agenda in the strategically vital Indo-Pacific region. "I'm pleased to see #Australia & #India sign a strong trade deal," Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Jim Risch said in a tweet. "The US needs to do the same and advance a strong economic agenda in the #IndoPacific. "The Biden Admin's failure to lead hurts US growth and our partnership in the region," Risch said in another tweet.
'Sullivan and Jaishankar welcomed the cooperation in recent weeks that resulted in deliveries of over USD 500 million in COVID-19 relief supplies from the US federal and state governments, US companies and private citizens across America for the people of India'
It said that the opportunities presented by an open and competitive South Asian market may also be grasped and consolidated from both security and economic perspectives.
Biden on Friday opened the first Quad Leaders' Summit held virtually and attended by Prime Minister Modi, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.
US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti who was in Hyderabad, told reporters that the entire planet is counting on the friendship between India and US and the deepening ties.
The Indian and Chinese troops have been locked in a tense border standoff in eastern Ladakh since May 5, 2020, when a violent clash between the two sides erupted in the Pangong lake area.
Top Pentagon officials have shown an understanding of India abstaining at the UN on resolutions against the Russian aggression against Ukraine but had a hard time pacifying many US lawmakers during a Congressional hearing on the Indo-Pacific on New Delhi's repeated abstention at the world body in New York.
"China creeps towards hegemony in Asia, threatens India's borders, and treats other countries as junior partners, Indian-American Congressman Ro Khanna said.
Pompeo explains how the Donald Trump administration succeeded in bringing India on board the Quad grouping.
Biden praised India's Covid vaccination efforts.
Downing Street said Johnson reiterated the year 2021 as an important one for UK-India ties and also re-emphasised the UK's commitment to the wider Indo-Pacific region, ahead of the first deployment of the HMS Queen Elizabeth carrier group to the region next year.
In a huge relief for H-1B visa holders, a White House-backed bipartisan deal has been unveiled under which automatic work authorisation would be granted to about 100,000 H-4 visa holders, who are spouses and children of a certain category of H-1B visa holders. The National Security Agreement that was announced on Sunday after long negotiations between the Republican and the Democratic leadership in the US Senate also provides a solution to about 250,000 aged-out children of H-1B visa holders. The move comes as good news for hundreds and thousands of Indian technology professionals who are waiting in a painstakingly long wait for a Green Card, in the absence of which their spouses cannot work and their aged-out children face the threat of deportation.
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that he had a productive meeting with visiting External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar during which they discussed the bilateral ties, COVID-19 relief efforts, India-China border situation and Afghanistan and vowed to work together to address areas of shared concern.
Gen Pande said India will have to especially watch out for the stance of its two adversaries in the emerging geopolitical scenario, in an oblique reference to China and Pakistan.
Macron's office said the President will travel to Delhi to participate in the G20 Summit on September 9 and 10 following which he will leave for Bangladesh for a bilateral visit.
Once the Canadian investigation runs its course, Ottawa may put on the public domain further accusations passing for "evidence" -- and that could happen at some point closer to our general election. All in all, the big question is, what is it that the US is really up to, asks Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The relationship between the US and India has been very productive, in particular on the trade and technology front, and 2023 can be considered the best year historically for bilateral ties, according to a former top American trade official. Arun Kumar, an Indian-American, who served as the assistant secretary of Commerce for Global Markets and director general of the US and Foreign Commercial Service (USFCS) during the Obama administration, said this during an interview with PTI in Washington. "Looking back on 2023, it was a very productive year for the US-India relationship, by many accounts the best year historically," he said.
China, which has territorial disputes with many countries in the strategic Indo-Pacific region, has been opposing the Quad alliance since its formation.
It will be the first visit by a top US official after the Joe Biden administration took charge.
Japan also reported that five of those missiles landed in its exclusive economic zone, understandably causing grave concern.
'When the issue of terrorism came up, the Vice President suo moto referred Pakistan's role in that regard (of terrorism),' Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla told reporters when asked if the issue of Pakistan's role in terrorism came up during her meeting with Modi.
The agreement provides for creation of an enabling framework for closer cooperation and interoperability, besides allowing militaries of the two countries to use each other's bases and facilities for repair and replenishment of supplies, the official said.
Modi said today "we all have reached an important and historic partnership".
The destabilising and corrosive behaviour of the Chinese Community Party in the Indo-Pacific region is simply not helpful and some of the defence infrastructure that is being set up by China near its border with India is alarming, US Army's Pacific Commanding General Charles A Flynn said on Wednesday.
Both leaders agreed to stay in contact as Sunak reaffirmed the UK position of respect for the rule of law after Canada's allegation of Indian involvement in the killing of a pro-Khalistan wanted terrorist.
The first phase of the Malabar exercises is due to begin in the Bay of Bengal off Visakhapatnam coast on Tuesday and end on November 6. The second phase of the mega exercise is scheduled to be held from November 17 to 20 in the Arabian sea.
In New Delhi, Singh will continue US administration's ongoing consultations with India, and advance a range of issues in the US-India economic relationship and strategic partnership.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday conveyed to US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin India's concerns over Washington's decision to provide sustenance package for Pakistan's F-16 fighter jet fleet.
Pompeo would leave for New Delhi on June 24.
An independent Taiwan under President Tsai Ing-wen's Democratic Progressive Party is anathema to China, observes Rup Narayan Das.
India's decision to heed to Australia's request to be part of the mega naval drill comes in the midst of growing strain in ties with China over the border row in eastern Ladakh.
Leaders of India, Australia and the United States -- countries that make up the Quad with Japan -- expressed shock at the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, saying he played a 'formative role' in the founding of the partnership and worked tirelessly to advance a shared vision for a free and open strategically-important Indo-Pacific region.
