New Delhi: During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s imminent visit to America, India and the US will sign agreements relating to the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) as well as a drug cooperation framework, the foreign secretary has said.
There was no confirmation on whether Modi – who will be in the US for three days starting Saturday – will meet former US President Donald Trump as the latter has claimed he will, with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) saying it was still working to schedule the prime minister’s meetings.
Modi will be in Wilmington in Delaware on Saturday to attend the summit for the Quad grouping of countries, following which he will travel to New York to attend the UN Summit of the Future and meet technology CEOs, the MEA said on Thursday (September 19).
While in Delaware, the Indian side will finalise ratifying the ‘clean economy’ and ‘fair economy’ pillars of the IPEF as well as its overarching agreement, foreign secretary Vikram Misri said in a special briefing.
The US-led IPEF is a loosely linked economic grouping that consists of 14 countries including India and is primarily aimed at countering China’s economic dominance.
Misri added that the two sides will also sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) related to a bilateral drug policy framework, though he did not offer more details on what the MoU will entail.
As for the Quad – the informal name for the grouping comprising India, the US, Australia and Japan – the foreign secretary said it will announce an initiative at the summit’s sidelines aiming to “implement innovative strategies” to manage cancer.
In its initial stages, this “Cancer Moonshot” initiative will involve collaboration in reducing the burden of cervical cancer in the Indo-Pacific, he added.
“It goes to a human level, a very real human level in the otherwise geopolitically dominated Quad universe,” Misri said during the briefing.
He also acknowledged that this year’s Quad summit was intended to be held in India but that the venue was moved to Wilmington “at the request of the US side”, adding that India will host the Quad next year.
In New York, Modi will address the Summit of the Future, where UN secretary general Antonio Guterres has hoped member nations will agree to take steps to reform global institutions, including the UN itself.
The prime minister will also attend a “business roundtable” of US technology CEOs and also have bilateral meetings with world leaders – who will be in town for the UN General Assembly’s annual meeting – Misri said.
Modi himself will not address the assembly this year though he was initially expected to do so. Instead, external affairs minister S. Jaishankar will speak for India at the general debate.
Although Trump said earlier this week that Modi “happens to be coming to meet me next week”, Misri neither confirmed nor denied if the two leaders would meet during Modi’s visit.
“Look, as I mentioned earlier, we are currently trying to schedule several meetings of [the] prime minister, based on the time available for meetings. So, at this moment, I cannot specifically tell you whether meetings have been fixed or not,” he said.
Towards the end of Thursday’s briefing, Misri was asked about a lawsuit filed by Gurpatwant Singh Pannun against the Indian government and national security adviser Ajit Doval in connection with the alleged plot orchestrated by an Indian government official to murder him.
“Look, again, as we have said earlier, these are completely unwarranted and unsubstantiated imputations,” Misri said, adding that the Sikhs for Justice organisation that Pannun is a lawyer for has been outlawed in India.
US prosecutors alleged in November last year that an Indian government official plotted to kill Pannun, who is a pro-Khalistan activist and a US citizen, on US soil.
They also said the official attempted to execute the plan through a man named Nikhil Gupta, whom Pannun also named in his civil lawsuit and who is currently in US federal custody.
Pannun is also proscribed in India as a terrorist.
India has said it is investigating its role in the alleged plot.
