Preparations for PM Modi's US visit after Paris AI Summit enters final stages

India and the United States continue to work on an "early visit" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Washington this month, that could possibly take place immediately after his participation in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Summit hosted by France at the Grand Palais in Paris on February 10 and 11.

A White House visit was among the range of issues that was discussed during PM Modi's phone conversation with the US President Donald Trump on January 27, underscoring the "strength of the friendship and strategic ties" between both nations.

"The two sides are working on an early visit of the Prime Minister to the United States to further deepen India-US comprehensive global strategic partnership and specific dates for this visit are still being worked out and will be announced at the appropriate time," said Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal during a regular media briefing on Friday.

It is, however, expected that the Prime Minister will travel to the United States for a bilateral visit after attending the AI Summit in Paris.

The visit will underscore the strength of the friendship and strategic ties between the two nations besides the close personal bond shared between the two leaders as PM Modi will be among the first foreign leaders to visit the White House during President Trump's historic second presidential term.

The US President has already promised to strengthen the "great partnership" with India and PM Modi, continuing the close ties he forged in his first term.

"We have hit the ground running, both in terms of the presence of External Affairs Minister Dr Jaishankar at the inaugural ceremony at the Capitol Hill, and, at the same time, the invitation that has gone across to Prime Minister Modi for a separate standalone visit to the United States so soon after President Trump's assuming office," Former Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla told IANS in an exclusive interview.

"This will set the stage for all of the decisions to follow and the relationship that would see considerable enhancement ahead of a visit by President Trump later in the year for the Quad Summit that India will host. Trump 2.0 offers us some unique opportunities for a number of reasons. One, of course, is that he has come in with an unfettered mandate this time. He has the scope, given the fact that this is a legacy term, and the opportunity to take the relationship significantly forward. And secondly, there's a desire on both sides to work on the comprehensive global strategic partnership," added Shringla.

The Chief Coordinator of India's G20 Presidency insisted that issues like tariffs can be handled in a smooth manner considering the excellent relationship between PM Modi and President Trump.

"Successive Prime Ministers and Presidents have put their own personal weight behind progress in the relationship and that has been done by Prime Minister Modi with successive US presidents. But there is a special chemistry between Prime Minister Modi and President Trump. We have seen it during the heydays and success of the 'Howdy Modi' event in Houston, or the 'Namaste Trump' event in Ahmedabad that took place in early 2020. There is no doubt about the fact that they have a great relationship," said Shringla.

The January 27 phone conversation was the second time two leaders spoke after Trump's re-election - the first took place just after he had won the Presidential election in November 2024.

"They have a lot of mutual admiration, respect, and that is the basis for a very substantial enhancement of the bilateral relationship because you have to start from the level of the leaders and then take it down by everything else. So, I think from that point of view, we have got on to a good start. There was a good conversation from all accounts yesterday and this is something that will form the basis for high-level visits and basic decisions to follow after that," remarked Shringla.