The ‘Namaste Trump’ event scheduled to be held in Ahmedabad for the American President next week will be similar to the ‘Howdy, Modi!’ event held in Houston last September, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday.

The ‘Namaste Trump’ event is being organised by the Donald Trump Nagrik Abhinandan Samiti. The Samiti is taking all decisions on whom to invite, the MEA said.

Addressing a press conference, MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said, “We are eagerly waiting for President Donald Trump’s visit, it will strengthen our global strategic ties”.

President Trump along with his wife and First Lady Melania Trump will be on a two-day visit in India on February 24 and 25 at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

This will be US President Trump’s first visit to India. It will be his fifth meeting with PM Modi in eight months. There are three legs to the US President’s visit with his first stop at Ahmedabad, followed by Agra and finally. Delhi.

Elaborating on Donald Trump’s nearly 36-hour tight schedule, Kumar said the US President will land in Ahmedabad around noon, from there he will go to the Motera Stadium to address the ‘Namaste Trump’ event.

The route from the airport to the stadium will be lined up by around 1 lakh people, according to the city’s Municipal Commissioner Vijay Nehra.

In Delhi, both the leaders will pay respects to Mahatma Gandhi at Raj Ghat which will be followed by delegation-level talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump at Hyderabad House.

Raveesh Kumar said there is strong cooperation between India and the US on counter-terrorism and hoped that this cooperation will further strengthen with the American President’s visit. “There will be talks on regional issues,” he added.

Meanwhile, ahead of the much-awaited visit of US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania to Agra next week, the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has mounted a massive image makeover of the Taj city.

According to reports, over 500 cusecs of water have been released by the state irrigation department into the Yamuna after the sorry plight of the river was highlighted by media and environmental activists.

Also, in a bid to spruce up the city to welcome Trump and his wife, shops have been painted in one colour and illegal hoardings removed or cut in one format to avoid visual discomfort.

Besides, Melania Trump is likely to visit a Delhi government school in the national capital on February 25 to watch the “happiness curriculum”.

Meanwhile, India hopes to sign a trade deal with the United States during Trump’s visit. However, the US president said on Wednesday that he might postpone the trade agreement till the US presidential elections.

Speaking on the same, Kumar today said: “We do hope to reach an understanding. We would not like to rush into a deal as issues involved are complicated. We don’t want to create an artificial deadline. For us the interests of people are paramount.”

Over the last three years, President Trump and PM Modi have developed a personal friendship and in 2019, the duo met four times including their joint address before a strong 50,000 crowd of Indian-Americans in Houston.