New Delhi: Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US from September 21, Mira Rapp Hooper, White House National Security Council Senior Director for East Asia and Oceania, said, "India is a leader within the Quad and is grateful for New Delhi's role in the four-nation grouping".
She noted, "When it comes to the role that we expect India to play, we expect and indeed see India as a leader within the Quad".
The best encapsulation of the way the US thinks about India’s role is captured in Washington's Indo-Pacific Strategy, she said on Thursday.
"...we say that the United States seeks an India that is increasingly a leader in the region and increasingly a partner with the United States,” Rapp-Hooper said.
"Through the Quad, we are increasingly working on projects in South Asia, which, of course, is a huge strategic priority for the government in Delhi, and we’re grateful for India’s leadership,” she added.
Rapp Hooper stated, "The Quad has been an ideal venue through which, rather, we can work together because it not only allows for the critical exchange of strategic views where, of course, we are, as I say, increasingly aligned, but also it allows us to identify opportunities and priorities that not only matter to the United States or its traditional treaty allies like Australia and Japan but matter to India".
Prime Minister Modi will be visiting the US from September 21 to 23. This visit combines many aspects. It has a very important bilateral aspect to it, a very important plurilateral aspect to it, and an equally important multilateral aspect to it, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said on Thursday.
He said that there will be interaction with a variety of foreign partners at the level of the Prime Minister. He will interact with the large Indian diaspora in the US, and with a host of business and industry leaders amongst others. The Prime Minister's first stop will be Wilmington in Delaware, which is the hometown of President Joe Biden. That is also the venue of this sixth Quad Summit that will be held there. It also happens to be the fourth in-person Summit between the Quad Leaders and will be held on September 21.
From Wilmington, the Prime Minister will travel to New York to attend the Summit of the Future (SOTF) at the United Nations. The Prime Minister will address this gathering of world leaders. He will have several other engagements throughout these three days. A very special event this time on the sidelines of the Quad Summit will be a Cancer Moonshot event. On September 22, the Prime Minister will have an interaction with the Indian diaspora. This is being organised by the community in Long Island New York.
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