New York, Sep 25: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump on Tuesday held a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the 74th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session in New York, during which Trump said the US will soon have a trade arrangement with India.
Both leaders declared they have marked “significant progress” in addressing several outstanding issues bilaterally or globally.
He is a great friend of India’s, says PM @narendramodi on @POTUS as their meeting gets underway in New York. pic.twitter.com/rLtrhxClh9
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) September 24, 2019
“I think very soon. We are doing very well. (US Trade Representative) Robert Lighthizer who is right here negotiating with India… I think, very soon we will have a trade deal,” Trump told reporters when asked about the potential trade deal between India-US.
According to India Today, Modi thanked Trump for accompanying him at the “Howdy, Modi!” event held on Sunday in Houston, Texas, where more than 50,000 Indian-Americans were present. “I am thankful to Trump that he came to Houston. He is my friend but he is also a good friend of India,” he said, during the meeting.
Great meeting with @POTUS @realDonaldTrump in New York.
We had extensive deliberations on a wide range of subjects including improving trade relations.
Continuous engagement between India and USA is a wonderful sign, auguring well for our nations and the world. pic.twitter.com/9YmeqITF0i
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 24, 2019
Meanwhile, Trump said he had a great meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan yesterday on the margins of the UNGA session. He said I believe Modi and Khan will get along and work out something, adding, he hopes both the Asian nations resolve the Kashmir issue.
When asked ‘how do you see the statement coming from Pakistani PM admitting that the Pakistani ISI trained Al Qaeda?’, Trump said you talk about Pakistan, but Iran has been always the no. 1. The US president said I hope both nations will get to know each other and produce some beneficial resolution to the numbers of the issues.
Addressing the joint press conference, Modi said during his Houston visit, Indian natural gas company named Petronet inked an agreement for $2.5 billion which means it will generate a revenue of around $60 billion with creating more than 50,000 jobs – “I think” it is one of the greatest initiative taken by India.
Meanwhile, Indian foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale said no timeline has been discussed yet, but “we are optimistic that we will be able to conclude an understanding or an agreement fairly soon”. He stated he is expecting a “fair, free and reasonable” agreement between two sides and “we have laid out our requirements in that regard, so has the US side”.