Biden, First Lady Jill Biden welcome Modi at White House

WASHINGTON: Prime Minister Narendra Modi was welcomed at the White House in Washington DC by United States President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden.

The camaraderie between leaders was visible as they were seen laughing and engaged in conversation during the warm welcome.

Prior to the visit to the White House, PM Modi met Gary E Dickerson, the President and CEO of Applied Materials, Sanjay Mehrotra, President-CEO of Micron Technology and H Lawrence Culp Jr, Chairman and CEO, of General Electic and CEO of General Electic Aerospace.

PM Modi, who arrived in Washington DC on Wednesday, started his day by attending the 'Skilling for Future' event where he said that India and the United States partnership will serve as the driving engine behind sustainable and inclusive global growth.

"To maintain growth momentum, India and the US need a pipeline of talent. On the one hand, the US has top-class educational institutions and advanced technologies. On the other hand, India has the world's biggest youth factory. That is why, I believe that the India-US partnership will prove to be the engine of sustainable and inclusive global growth," he added.

Highlighting the initiatives taken by the Indian government to secure a bright future for students such as implementing the New Education Policy and integrating education and skilling.

Talking about the work that the Indian government did for the bright future of the students, PM Modi stated that they have brought the New Education Policy and integrated education and skilling. Under Skill India, India has skilled over "15 billion people" in the field of artificial intelligence, blockchain, drone, and others.

PM Modi urged American students to come to India and said that hundreds of United States teachers are already in India, participating in a tech partnership. Proposing the idea of an India-US teachers' exchange program, PM Modi said, "We can think of starting an India-US teachers' exchange programme. To increase the engagement of scientists & entrepreneurs across the world with Indian institutions, we started GIAN - Global Initiative of Academic Networks - in 2015. I am delighted to tell you that under this, 750 faculty members from the US have come to India."

Meanwhile, PM Modi will attend the state dinner on Thursday which US President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden are hosting.

The Prime Minister will also address a Joint Sitting of the US Congress on the same day. On June 23, the Prime Minister will be jointly hosted at a luncheon by US Vice President Kamala Harris and the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Later on, he will meet business leaders of 20 top American companies here and is also expected to address a gathering of more than 1,500 diaspora and business leaders.