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BIG STORY                                                                JUNE 30, 2023  |    The Indian Eye                     5



            In a special address during the                                                                   later held bilateral talks with PM
        State Dinner at the White House,                                                                      Modi.
        Biden said, “Jill and I have had a                                                                        While  POTUS  (code  name  for
        wonderful time with the Prime Min-                                                                    the US president) is hosting his third
        ster today, during your truly produc-                                                                 State guest, it is the largest so far,
        tive  visit.  Tonight,  we  celebrate  the                                                            considering the  sheer numbers on
        great bonds of friendship between                                                                     the South Lawns of the White House
        India and the United States.”                                                                         to welcome PM Modi on Thursday.
            Earlier, US President Joe Biden                                                                       Earlier, Modi on Thursday high-
        and First Lady Jill Biden welcomed                                                                    lighted “India’s unity in diversity,” at
        Prime Minister Narendra Modi at                                                                       the historic address to the joint sit-
        the White House for the State din-                                                                    ting of the US Congress. “India is the
        ner.  Amongst  the  US  officials  who                                                                home to all faiths in the world and
        arrived at the White House for the                                                                    we celebrate all of them. In India, di-
        State Dinner was the US Secretary                                                                     versity is a natural way of life, today
        of Commerce Gina Raimondo, US                                                                         the world wants to know more and
        Secretary of State, Antony Blinken,                                                                   more about India,” said PM Modi.
        and US Ambassador to India, Eric                                                                      Speaking about Indian diversity, he
        Garcetti.                                                                                             said, “We have over 2500 political
            US House Speaker Kevin Mc-     Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves while addressing the joint sitting of the US Congress in   parties...About 20 different parties
        Carthy also arrived at the White   presence of Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy and other dignitaries   govern various states of India. We
        House for the event and said that                                                                     have 22 official languages and thou-
        India and US have a very strong re-             at Capitol Hill, in Washington DC on Friday (ANI Photo)  sands of dialects, yet we speak in one
        lationship. Mahindra Group Chair-                                                                     voice. Every 100 miles our cuisine
        man Anand Mahindra, Chairman      2014, on a working visit. This visit   and the strong Indo-US relationship.  changes, from dosa to aloo paratha.”
        and managing director of Reliance   was  significant  as  he  also  delivered   In 2017, PM Modi went to the   He  said  that  today,  the  world
        Industries Mukesh Ambani and      his maiden speech at the 69th ses-  US on a three-day visit. He was   wants to know more and more about
        wife Nita Ambani were amongst     sion of the United Nations General   hosted by the then President Don-  India. “I see that curiosity in this
        the Indian business tycoons who   Assembly.                         ald Trump at the White House for   house, too. We were honored to re-
        arrived at the White House for the    He visited the US again in 2016,   a ‘working dinner’. During this visit,   ceive around 100 members of the US
        State Dinner.                     for the Nuclear Security Summit.   Prime Minister Modi also addressed   Congress  over  the  last  decade.  Ev-
            Furthermore, Indra Nooyi, for-  During this visit, he also met then-  the Indian diaspora at the Ritz Carl-  eryone wants to understand India’s
        mer Chairperson and CEO of Pep-   US President Barack Obama at the   ton in Tysons Corner, Virginia.  development, democracy and diver-
        siCo also reached the White House   White House and held bilateral talks.  His visit in 2019 was one of his   sity,” said Modi.
        for the State Dinner. Several CEOs    In the same year, PM Modi em-  most  significant,  as  he  addressed   He arrived at the US House
        were also among the invitees to the   barked on another visit to the US.   the Indian-American community in   of Representatives, where he ad-
        State dinner. Microsoft CEO Satya   During this visit, he delivered his   Houston at an event named ‘Howdy   dressed the joint session of the US
        Nadella and Google CEO Sundar     maiden address at the US Congress   Modi!’ The event was attended by   Congress shortly.
        Pichai were in attendance. Zerodha   and spoke on a range of topics in-  50,000 people and also addressed by   PM Modi said that it is always a
        Co-Founder Nikhil Kamath was also   cluding terrorism, climate change   then-President Donald Trump, who   great honor to address the US Con-
        on the guest list, amongst many.                                                                      gress.
            A ‘state visit’ holds a special sig-                                                                  “It is an exceptional privilege to
        nificance as compared to other for-                                                                   do so twice. For this honor, I extend
        eign visits, as this is a formal visit by                                                             my deepest gratitude to the 1.4 bil-
        the head of state to a foreign coun-                                                                  lion people of India. I see that nearly
        try at the invitation of the head of                                                                  half of you were here in 2016. I can
        state hosting him. The visit signifies                                                                also see the enthusiasm of the old
        the highest expression of friendly                                                                    friends  and  the  new  friends  in  the
        bilateral ties between two sovereign                                                                  other half,” said Prime Minister Na-
        nations. Also, during a State visit,                                                                  rendra Modi.
        the leader extending the invitation                                                                       He said that our era is at a cross-
        acts as the official host of the visiting                                                             roads and he is speaking about the
        head of state through the course of                                                                   calling for this century. “Standing
        the trip.                                                                                             here seven Junes ago, when Hamil-
            A ‘state visit’ holds a special sig-                                                              ton swept all the awards, I said that
        nificance as compared to other for-                                                                   the hesitations of history were be-
        eign visits, as this is a formal visit by                                                             hind us. Now, when our era is at a
        the head of state to a foreign country                                                                crossroads, I am here to speak about
        at the invitation of the head of state                                                                our calling for this century,” he said.
        hosting him.                                                                                              Modi further highlighted many
            The visit signifies the highest ex-                                                               advances made in AI- Artificial In-
        pression of friendly bilateral ties be-                                                               telligence. “In the past few years,
        tween two sovereign nations. Also,                                                                    there have been many advances in
        during a State visit, the leader ex-                                                                  AI-  Artificial  Intelligence.  At  the
        tending the invitation acts as the offi-                                                              same time, there has been even more
        cial host of the visiting head of state    Prime Minister Narendra Modi with President of the USA, Joe Biden and US First Lady Jill   momentous development in another
        through the course of the trip.         Biden at White House Arrival Ceremony, in Washington DC on Thursday (ANI)  AI- America and India,” he added.
            PM Modi first visited the US in                                                                          Continued on next page... >>


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