US President Joe Biden made a strange complain to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Quad meeting in Japan.
Biden walked up to PM Modi during the meeting and one of the points he made was the large number of requests he was getting from prominent citizens to attend the Indian leader’s programmes during his next month state visit to Washington DC, officials said.
“You are causing me a real problem. Next month we have a dinner for you in Washington. Everyone on the whole country wants to come. I have run out of tickets. You think I am kidding. Ask my team. I am getting phone calls from people I have never heard of before. Everyone from movie actors to relatives. You are too popular,” Biden told PM Modi.
#WATCH | Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden share a hug as they meet in Hiroshima, Japan. pic.twitter.com/bbaYMo1jBL— ANI (@ANI) May 20, 2023
PM Narendra Modi will be on a state visit to United States in June for the first time in nine years. The White House has announced that President Joe Biden will host PM Modi for an official state visit to the US, which will include a state dinner on June 22.
PM Modi is scheduled to make his first state visit to the US, which is considered the highest expression of friendly bilateral ties between the two democracies. State visits are led by foreign heads of state acting in their sovereign capacity and are the highest rank in terms of diplomatic protocol.
Biden further said that PM Modi is making a significant impact on everything, including what the two countries are doing in Quad.
He also told PM Modi, “You are demonstrating that democracies matter.” The US President added that the Indian Prime Minister is making a fundamental shift in climate and having an influence in Indo-Pacific.
Echoing a similar view, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he too is finding it difficult to accommodate all the requests he is getting for a community event, where Modi will speak on Tuesday, even though the Sydney venue has a capacity of 20,000, officials added.
Albanese remembered how at the Narendra Modi stadium more than 90,000 people welcomed him during the victory lap.
To this Biden told Modi in a lighter vein that he should take his autograph.
Modi and Albanese were in the Gujarat stadium to watch an India-Australia test match in March this year and had taken a lap of honour.
As part of his ongoing three-nation visit, Modi is scheduled to arrive in Australia on Monday and will address the community event on Tuesday.
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