Sawt Falasteen - India PM Modi to meet Trump in US visit next week: foreign ministry

Modi, who will visit Washington from February 12-13, will be "among the first few world leaders to visit the United States following the inauguration of President Trump", India's top career diplomat, Vikram Misri, told reporters.

Misri said there had been a "very close rapport" between the leaders, although their ties have so far failed to bring a breakthrough on a long-sought US-India trade deal.

"The visit will be a valuable opportunity to engage the new administration on all areas of mutual interest", he said, adding that Modi would hold a bilateral meeting with Trump.

"This has been one of our strongest international partnerships in recent years and the prime minister's visit is in line with our steady engagement with the new administration," Misri said.

Modi was among the first to congratulate his "dear friend" Trump on his inauguration last month, saying he wanted New Delhi and Washington to work closely together.

"I look forward to working closely together once again, to benefit both our countries, and to shape a better future for the world", Modi wrote on X in January.

- 'Very close rapport' -

However, Trump pressed Modi for "fair" trading ties in a telephone call later that month, the White House said, as Trump pushed his hardline trade agenda with world leaders.

Trump and Modi also discussed strengthening the so-called Quad grouping with Australia and Japan, which is widely seen as a counterweight to China.

India is due to host the bloc's leaders later this year.

The Indian and US leaders, both of whom critics accuse of authoritarian tendencies, enjoyed warm relations when Trump was in the White House from 2017 to 2021.

Modi visited Trump in office in 2017 and 2019.

He also hosted Trump at a huge rally in his home state of Gujarat, while Trump returned the favour with a similar event in Houston, Texas.

"There is an obvious convergence of interests between the two countries," Misri said, which included "trade, investment, technology, defence cooperation, counter-terrorism (and) the security of the Indo-Pacific".

The meeting will come days after a US military airplane flew back 104 Indian migrants, part of Trump's overhaul of immigration.

India's foreign ministry said it was "firmly opposed to illegal migration, especially as it is linked to other forms of organised crime".

But New Delhi's foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Thursday pointed out that the "process of deportation is not a new one", and that the United States had expelled more than 15,000 Indians since 2009, almost half of them between 2019-2024.

India is the world's fifth-largest economy and enjoys world-beating GDP growth, but hundreds of thousands of its citizens still leave the country each year seeking better opportunities abroad.

R.AbuNasser--SF-PST