As India readies to welcome the Amerian President next week, the government has stated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not reportedly accompany Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump to see the Taj Mahal in Agra.
The US President, his wife, daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner along with a large delegation are visiting India on February 24 and 25.
“We have seen media reports regarding PM Modi’s presence in Agra in connection with the visit of President Trump. The visit to the Taj Mahal in Agra by the US President and the First Lady will afford them the opportunity to view the historical monument suitably. Therefore, no official engagements or presence of senior dignitaries from the Indian side is envisaged there,” government sources were quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
The US on Saturday officially confirmed that a 12-person delegation will accompany President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania during their two-day trip to India on Monday.
The delegation includes Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff to the First Lady, Robert Blair, Assistant to President and Special Representative for International Telecommunication Policy and Senior Advisor to the Chief of Staff, US Ambassador to India Kenneth Juster, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette, Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien.
Senior Advisor for Policy Stephen Miller, White House Director of Social Media Dan Scavino, Chief of Staff to the First Lady Lindsay Reynolds, Special Representative for International Telecommunication Policy Robert Blair, and White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham are also part of the delegation.
For the bilateral meeting between the President and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the additional participants include Adam Boehler, Chief Executive Officer of the US International Development Finance Corporation; Ajit Pai, Chairman of the FCC; Lisa Curtis, Deputy Assistant to the President for South and Central Asian Affairs; Kash Patel, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Counterterrorism, and Mike Passey, Director for India, National Security Council.
President Donald Trump will arrive Ahmedabad, in the state of Gujarat, on Monday, from where he will be accompanied by PM Modi and will go on a roadshow to the world’s largest cricket stadium in Ahmedabad’s Motera.
From there, the US President and the First Lady will then head to Agra where they will visit the Taj Mahal.
Later in the day, they will fly to New Delhi and have a full programme on Tuesday.
The Tuesday programme will include ceremonial events, bilateral meetings with the Prime Minister, a business event with Indian investors, with a special focus on companies that are investing in manufacturing in the US.
Donald Trump will also have a meet-and-greet with the US embassy staff and a meeting with his Indian counterpart Ram Nath Kovind.
To conclude the visit, there will be a state dinner at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Tuesday evening.
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.
The United States on Friday said it was unlikely that a trade deal would be inked with India during President Donald Trump’s upcoming visit to the country as the concerns that led to India’s removal from the Generalized System of Preferences still persist.
As per reports, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, who has been negotiating a trade deal with India, is not travelling with Trump on the India trip. In fact, he had cancelled his earlier trip to India as well.
This will be US President Trump’s first visit to India. It will be his fifth meeting with PM Modi in eight months.