Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Joe Biden will meet on Friday for their first in-person discussion, the White House announced on Monday. In a publicly released schedule, the bilateral was listed first, followed by a summit-level meeting of Quad leaders .
“…In an interesting way, the bilateral discussion between the U.S. and India will help reinforce and give momentum to the Quad discussion because many of the topics are very much interrelated,” a senior administration official said in response to a question from The Hindu, while speaking to presspersons on a briefing call.
Afghanistan and, more broadly, counterterrorism will be part of the
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The two leaders will also compare notes, the official said, on a range of regional issues and developments. It is likely they will discuss dynamics with Beijing as part of this.
Focus on COVID-19
The main areas of
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The official also told presspersons that in the list of Quad outcomes will be one related to its core objective for the region — “...an overarching commitment at the core of the Quad to promoting a free and open Indo Pacific,” the official said.
On last week’s launch of a trilateral security partnership for the Indo-Pacific, AUKUS, the senior administration official reiterated that the deal was “unique”. “This is for Australia, and it is based on a unique set of circumstances involving the Australian case.”