PM Modi’s State Visit will be “historic, path-breaking”: Ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu
Indian Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu termed the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit as “historic and path-breaking”. Prime Minister Modi has been following his policies of promoting India as a manufacturing destination and he has been fairly successful in improving India’s image on the world stage. In the recent years, many big companies have announced shifting production to India.
As per Ambassador Sandhu, PM Modi’s visit will be focused on five main issues - defence and strategic cooperation, healthcare partnership, technology (digital startup, innovation), environment (energy, renewables), and knowledge and education. India has been offering back-office technology services to the West but many technology experts have expressed that India should move higher in the hierarchy. Offering better solutions and making higher money is what India needs to achieve.
US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will host Prime Minister Modi during at a state dinner on June 22. Modi will be addressing a joint meeting of the US Congress during his visit for the second time. First time, he addressed the US Congress in 2016. Modi is the first Indian leader to address the US Congress twice.
Ambassador Sandhu said, “This is indeed a historic and path-breaking visit. I use these terminologies by fully looking into them. You will see both on the substantive side & on the ceremonial side, that it will be historic.” Surely, Sandhu and his team has important task set for them to make this visit successful.
Prime Minister Modi has been criticized by opposition for having too many foreign visits. During his first term, Modi visited many countries that had not been visited by Indian Prime Ministers for decades. The policy of Modi to visit countries and sign up some pacts and MOUs has been termed as masterstroke by supporters of BJP. Opposition has always questioned what Modi has achieved during his visits expect for media attention. Many a times, it has been media attention only in Indian media. Despite the criticism, Prime Minister Modi has been actively visiting countries in order to improve bilateral relations and trade.