Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday attended a luncheon hosted by the US State department where he said that everyone agrees that 'friendship and cooperation between the two nations should further deepen'. He also raised a toast to the strong ties, and peace and prosperity of the citizens of India and the US.

"Today, I am delighted to be before you once again at the State Department. In the last 3 days, I participated in numerous meetings. In all these meetings, one thing was common. Everyone agreed that friendship and cooperation should further deepen between the people of India & US," PM Modi said.

Prime Minister was welcomed by Vice President Kamala Harris Secretary of the State Antony Blinken, on the stage. "I would like to thank VP Kamala Harris & Secretary Blinken for this grand welcome. I extend my heartfelt gratitude to you for your warm words," PM Modi expressed his gratitude for the welcome.

Highlighting the ties between the two nations, he further said that in the last 9 years, the two nations have created a strong relationship in several areas including defence, technology and trade. "Bharat aur America ke sambandhon ki madhur geetmala, people to people ties ke suron se piroyi gayi hai."

"In 2014 during my visit to the US, President Biden who was at the US State Dept at the time defined India-US friendship as "A promise over the horizon." In the last 9 years, we have taken a long & beautiful journey together in areas of defence, emerging technologies & trade. We are progressing as we work in the frameworks of Quad and I2U2. India and US can be seen working together," he said.

Prior to the luncheon, PM Modi had a one-on-one interaction with the top CEOs of the two countries. During this “Hi-Tech Handshake” programme, he was accompanied by US President Joe Biden, to have a round-table discussion with several figures fields of technology.

This included Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra, Reliance Industries Chairman & MD Mukesh Ambani, Zerodha & True Beacon Co-Founder Nikhil Kamath, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Apple CEO Tim Cook, 3rdiTech Co-Founder Vrinda Kapoor among others.

First Published:Jun 24, 2023 1:10 AM IST