Biden and Modi to have bilateral meeting on sidelines of G20 summit

NEW DELHI: US President Joe Biden will travel to India next week to participate in the G20 Summit and will have a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 8 on the sidelines of the historic meeting, the White House has announced.

India, G20 president, will host global leaders for the summit scheduled to take place on September 9 and 10 in New Delhi.

The announcement came even as India on Saturday stated that Prime Minister Modi would travel to the Indonesian capital Jakarta on a two-day visit starting September 6 to attend the 20th Asean-India summit and the 18th East Asia summit. The Prime Minister will visit Jakarta at the invitation of Indonesian President Joko Widodo, chair of the 10-nation grouping.

Incidentally, Indonesia was the previous G-20 chair and had hosted the summit in Bali in November last year. The Indonesian President is expected to attend the G-20 summit in New Delhi.

On Thursday (September 7), the President will travel to New Delhi, India, to attend the G20 Leaders' Summit. On Friday, the President will participate in a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the White House said in its week ahead schedule of the president released Friday night.

On Saturday (September 9) and Sunday (September 10), the President will participate in the G20 summit, where he and G20 partners will discuss a range of joint efforts to tackle global issues, including the clean energy transition and combatting climate change, the White House said.

They will also mitigate the economic and social impacts of Russian President Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine, and increase the capacity of multilateral development banks, including the World Bank, to better fight poverty, including by addressing global challenges, the White House said.

While in New Delhi, the President will also commend Prime Minister Modi's leadership of the G20 and reaffirm the US commitment to the G20 as the premier forum of economic cooperation, including by hosting it in 2026, it said.

Announcing Modi’s visit to Indonesia, India said: "The forthcoming Asean-India summit will be the first summit since the elevation of India-Asean relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2022. The summit will review the progress of India-Asean relations and chart the future direction of cooperation. The East Asia summit will provide an opportunity for leaders of Asean countries and its eight dialogue partners, including India, to exchange views on issues of regional and global significance."

India and Indonesia have strengthened bilateral ties enormously in the past few years and there is also geographical proximity. India’s strategically located Andaman and Nicobar Islands are geographically situated in Southeast Asia, not far from one of the islands of Indonesia.