On his first state visit to the US, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on Thursday accorded a ceremonial welcome on the South Lawn of the White House Modi by US President Joe Biden, with a 21-gun salute.
Prime Minister Modi and President Biden will have a one-on-one meeting in the Oval Office of the White House on Thursday before holding high-level talks to further boost the growing Indo-US strategic relations in areas like defence, space and critical technologies.
Gold Rate
15 May 2025
Vice President Kamala Harris and the Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff would be attending the welcome ceremony. Thereafter, the leaders of the two largest democracies of the world will hold a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office, where they are expected to make some opening remarks.
Modi and Biden are scheduled to address a news conference together from the East Room of the White House.
Invitations for the ceremonial welcome were sent out to nearly 8,000 members of the diaspora and Indian American community for the historic ceremonial welcome.
A drizzle was no dampener to the enthusiasm of the members of the diaspora, many of whom travelled overnight from different parts of the US, as they waved the flag of the two countries and raised slogans.
“What a great sight it is. It is like a festival,” Hitesh Shah, who came from Boston, said.
Slogans like ‘Vande Mataram’, ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ and ‘Modi, Modi’ went up the air amid a mood of cheer.
