India-US to continue to fight terror together, Trump tells Modi

India and America will continue to fight terrorism “shoulder-to-shoulder”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and new US President Donald Trump resolved in their first call after change of administration in Washington.

Modi and Trump resolved that India and the United States stood “shoulder to shoulder in the global fight against terrorism”, according to a statement issued by the White House early on Wednesday.

The prime minister and the new US president discussed ways to expand bilateral cooperation in economy and defence and touched upon security situation in the neighbourhood of India and beyond.

“Had a warm conversation with President @realDonaldTrump late last evening,” Modi posted on Twitter on Wednesday. “President @realDonaldTrump and I agreed to work closely in the coming days to further strengthen our bilateral ties,” added the prime minister. Modi was the fifth world leader to receive a call from Trump after the new US President took office in Washington DC on Friday.

Trump “emphasised” during his call to Modi that the US considered India “a true friend and partner in addressing challenges around the world”, the White House said. The two leaders “discussed opportunities to strengthen the partnership between the US and India in broad areas such as the economy and defence”.

The prime minister conveyed to the new American president that India and the US had made substantial progress in expanding bilateral defence and counter-terrorism cooperation over the past few years and New Delhi would expect that it would continue to grow in the coming years too, sources here told DH.

Modi may vist US this year
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to visit United States later this year on an invitation from new US President Donald Trump, DHNS reports.

Modi and Trump exchanged invitation to visit each other’s country during a phone-call late Tuesday.

The prime minister, himself, posted on Twitter that he had invited the new US President to visit India. A White House statement issued on Wednesday stated that Trump ‘looked forward to hosting’ Modi in the US ‘later this year’.