Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday held talks with US President Donald Trump and discussed various bilateral and global issues including Iran, 5G communications networks, trade and defence ahead of the G-20 Summit.

Modi thanked Trump for expressing his “love towards India” in a letter recently delivered by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The Prime Minister said that he wants to discuss Iran, 5G, bilateral relations and defence ties with Trump.

The US reimposed sanctions on Iran in November after pulling out of a 2015 nuclear accord between Tehran and six world powers. To reduce Iran’s crude oil export to zero, the US ended on May 2 waivers that had allowed the top buyers of Iranian oil, including India, to continue their imports for six months. India, complying with the US sanctions, has ended all imports of oil from Iran.

Trump congratulated Modi on his election victory and said that the two countries would work together in many areas including military. “In terms of trade, in terms of manufacturing, we would be discussing 5G. I congratulate you and I look forward to talks,” Trump said. On Iran, Trump said: “We have a lot of time. There’s no rush, they can take their time. There is absolutely no time pressure”.

“PM @narendramodi and @POTUS held talks on the sidelines of the #G20 Summit in Osaka. Both leaders discussed various bilateral and global issues,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a tweet. The two leaders met shortly after the Japan-America-India trilateral meeting during which Modi highlighted “the importance India attaches to” the grouping.

The Modi-Trump meeting assumes significance as the US president, championing his ‘America First’ policy, has been a vocal critic of India for levying “tremendously high” duties on US products. This was Modi’s first meeting with Trump after the BJP’s landslide win in the parliamentary election.

JAI Trilateral meeting

 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday held a “productive” trilateral meeting with US President Donald Trump and Japanese premier Shinzo Abe, and extensively discussed issues of the Indo-Pacific region, connectivity and infrastructure development ahead of the formal opening of the G-20 Summit here.

 It was the second Japan-America-India (JAI) meeting.

 The discussion focused on how the three countries can together work together towards an open, stable and rule-based Indo-Pacific region.

 During the Japan-America-India trilateral meeting, Modi highlighted “the importance India attaches to” the grouping.

 The main topic of discussion was Indo-Pacific, how the three countries can work together in terms of connectivity, infrastructure, ensuring peace and security, and working together to build upon this new concept, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said.

 

 “Committed to a better future. Meeting of JAI (Japan-America-India) Trilateral takes place in Osaka. PM @AbeShinzo welcomes the leaders. @POTUS congratulates Prime Ministers Modi and Abe for their electoral victories. PM Modi highlights the importance India attaches to JAI,” the prime minister’s office tweeted.

 “Today’s meeting of the JAI Trilateral was a productive one. We had extensive discussions on the Indo-Pacific region, improving connectivity and infrastructure development. Grateful to PM @AbeShinzo and President @realDonaldTrump for sharing their views as well,” Modi tweeted later.

 “2nd ‘JAI’ - Japan-America-India Trilateral Meeting between PM @narendramodi, Japanese PM @AbeShinzo & POTUS @realDonaldTrump on margins of #G20 Summit. Discussion focused on how the 3 countries can together work together towards an open, stable & rule-based Indo-Pacific region,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said on Twitter.

Modi meets Saudi Prince Salman

 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday held bilateral talks with Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman and discussed deepening cooperation in trade and investment, energy security and counter-terrorism with the “invaluable strategic partner” in Osaka.

Saudi Arabia is India’s top supplier of crude oil but the two countries have expanded their relationship beyond energy, and their governments have agreed to build a strategic partnership.

Saudi Prince Salman, who is also the Gulf nation’s Defence Minister, visited India in February on his first official visit to the country. During his visit, India strongly raised the issue of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism and discussed deepening cooperation in counter-terrorism.

 

Good friend

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday met South Korean President Moon Jae-in and discussed ways to enhance trade, economic and people-to-people relations.

During their meeting, the two leaders expressed mutual desire to synergise India’s Act East Policy with South Korea’s New Southern Policy.

The main focus of India’s Act East Policy is to shift the country’s trading focus from the west and neighbours to the booming South East Asian countries.

The Moon administration’s ‘New Southern Policy’ focuses on South Korea’s development of its relations with Southeast Asia and ASEAN.

“It is always special to meet my good friend”, says President Moon Jae-in. He is extremely passionate about furthering friendship between India and the Republic of Korea. Today, we talked about various steps to enhance trade, economic and people-to-people relations,” Modi tweeted after his meeting with Moon.

Indo-German relations

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met German Chancellor Angela Merkel and discussed ways to deepen the Indo-German relations and enhance cooperation in areas like artificial intelligence and cyber security.

The two leaders met in this Japanese port city on the sidelines of the G-20 summit.

Chancellor Merkel has congratulated Modi on the recent electoral victory, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a tweet. Germany is India’s largest trade partner in the 28-member European Union bloc.

In 2016-17, the bilateral trade turnover was $ 18.76 billion, with India exporting goods worth $ 7.18 billion to Germany and importing German products worth $ 11.58 billion, according to German media.

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