Journalism of Courage
PRIME MINISTER Narendra Modi will hold a roundtable meeting with the CEOs of top energy companies in Houston when he visits the US next month. And, before his visit, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal is likely to visit the US to resolve trade-related issues.
In his 40-minute meeting with US President Donald Trump, Modi conveyed his intention to meet the top executives. Trump told him he would send top US officials to Houston to smoothen India’s efforts to deepen energy trade with the US. Modi informed Trump that India was importing energy from the US worth about $ 4 billion, and wanted to step it up.
Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said the idea of a roundtable meeting was to explore how India can import more energy from the US and how Indian companies can invest more in the US. The two leaders also discussed trade issues; India and the US will now work towards scheduling a meeting between Goyal and his American counterpart, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.
“We are talking about trade, we’re talking about military and many different things. We had some great discussions, we were together last night for dinner and I learned a lot about India,” Trump said before the meeting.
“We welcome suggestions from the US on trade,” Modi said, ahead of the meeting.
A White House statement said: “The two leaders discussed ways to broaden their strategic partnership and greatly increase trade between the US and India.”
After the Osaka meeting, the two sides had agreed to get officials and ministers to meet and resolve issues related to trade.
Gokhale said India was approaching in a “forward-looking position”. He said “both sides can look ahead and afresh”. He said the Modi-Trump meeting was “very warm and very positive”.
