Trump, Modi meeting on cards; PM lands in France

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump will meet on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Evian, White House officials told HT on Saturday, hours after the PM departed for a nearly week-long visit to France and Slovakia.

- Shashank Mattoo and Rezaul H Laskar

The trip, running June 13 to 18, involves bilateral talks with French President Emmanuel Macron in Nice, a first prime ministerial visit to Slovakia, G7 outreach sessions at Evian, and an appearance at VivaTech in Paris. Defence and security cooperation, trade, technology, the concerns of the Global South, and the fallout of the West Asia conflict on energy security are set to top the agenda.

While the bilateral meeting on the margins of the G7 Summit was announced by White House officials, there was no official word from the Indian side. India-US ties were hit this week when three Indian seafarers were killed in a US strike on a Palau-flagged tanker in the waters off Oman. The external affairs ministry summoned the US charge d'affaires twice within three days to protest against the killings, which were also raised by external affairs minister S Jaishankar with his American counterpart Marco Rubio on Friday.

In a departure statement, Modi said France "occupies a special place in India's strategic vision" and that discussions with Macron will focus on enhancing cooperation in key sectors, especially technology.

On Sunday, the two leaders will jointly inaugurate Bharat Innovates in Nice-part of the IndiaFrance Year of Innovation-connecting Indian startups with global investment and acting as an accelerator for innovations from India's higher education system.

Their bilateral meeting will build on the elevation of ties to a special global strategic partnership in February.