PM Modi's state visit "truly momentous": US diplomat Atul Keshap

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US underlines the deepening friendship and between the people of the United States and India, according to Atul Keshap, a senior American diplomat.

Addressing an 'India Ideas Summit' organised by US-India Business Council (USIBC) in Washington D.C. here on Monday (local time), the former US envoy to India said the upcoming visit of PM Modi will be "truly momentous." "It is a reflection of the friendship and trust and relationship between the people of the United States and the people of India," Keshap who is also president of USBIC said.

Terming the partnership between the two countries as a "resilient" one, Keshap pointed out that over his two-year tenure as the President of the US-India Business Council, he has witnessed ties between the two countries transform. "We believe in each other, we trust each other, we have shared values, and this state visit recognises all that. And it recognises the sheer potential of our 1.8 billion free people in more ways than ever," the USIBC president said.

"The G2G (government to government) and B2B (business to business) relationship ahead of this state visit has shown the world that India and the US are free and democratic nations and are determined to do good for each other and the world," Keshap said. He further added that in his recent visits to India, he has seen that the country is "on the move faster than almost any other place on earth."

Keshap there is a "dazzling amount of activity" in India which is "helping lift hundreds of millions of people to new levels of economic development and happiness." The former US envoy to India also said that the USIBC supports the vision of a USD 30 trillion Indian economy and will work together to achieve it.

Regarding PM Modi's upcoming US visit, Keshap reiterated, "The state visit is going to be magnificent." The annual USIBC summit is part of the US Chambers of Commerce and is being conducted ahead of the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the US on June 22.

India's ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu also said that the speed and scale of the transformation of the India-US relationship have been "phenomenal." In his address at the 'India Ideas Summit' Keshap said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the third Indian leader to be accorded the honour of a state visit by the US President.

Sandhu said that PM Modi is the only Indian leader to address the US Congress twice. At the invitation of US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the United States from June 21 to June 24. Indian Americans are eagerly preparing to extend a warm welcome to PM Modi.