Modi meets leaders from Pacific Islands states in New York

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday met the heads of state and governments of the Pacific Islands states here on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session.

It is first of the two plurilaterals which are scheduled to take place during Modi's week-long official visit to the United States.

"For us it (the meeting) is important because these have been the countries that are vulnerable, with which we have been doing a lot in terms of development assistance and which now play a role in our Indo-Pacific vision," Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale had said during a special briefing here earlier in the day.

Modi has held a string of engagements, including addressing the mega Howdy Modi! event in Houston, the UN Climate Action Summit in New York and a high-level meeting on the health sector.

He has also held bilaterals with the USA, Italy, Niger and Qatar and met leaders from Bhutan, Germany and Netherlands -- to name a few -- on the sidelines of his UN engagements. The Prime Minister also held a series of pull-asides with countries like Jordan, Indonesia and Luxembourg on Monday.

Modi is scheduled to address the UN General Assembly session on Friday.