A Warm Welcome And An Opportunity Awaits Prime Minister Narendra Modi In U.S.
In New York, besides his address at Madison Square Garden expected to be attended by more than 18,000 people and watched by thousands more live on big screens in Times Square and across the country, he will also make an appearance at a Central Park festival featuring rap star Jay-Z.
Modi is also expected to hold meetings with former U.S. president Bill Clinton and his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and his predecessor Michael Bloomberg.
On the sidelines of the UN general assembly, Modi will hold bilateral meetings with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Nepalese Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, and Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
But a meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is not on the cards as of now.
Several US policy experts see the Modi visit as a golden opportunity to repair India-U.S. relations strained with a major diplomatic row over the December arrest and strip search of an Indian diplomat in New York and tiffs over trade issues.
The Obama administration sees the recent election of Modi-led majority government in India "as an opportunity to take the relationship to the next level," according to Strobe Talbott who served as President Bill Clinton's deputy secretary of state.
Talbott had engaged India's then external affairs minister Jaswant Singh to end India's nuclear isolation after India's 1998 nuclear tests.
Ashley J. Tellis, senior associate at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, who was involved as an adviser in negotiating the civil nuclear agreement with India, also believes that Modi's visit will provide the two countries with "a golden opportunity to repair their faltering partnership."
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