PM Modi to leave for US today, to attend 35 engagements over five days

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will leave for the United States on Thursday evening. According to reports, the five-day visit will see him attending 35 official engagements.

It will include addressing the 69th session of the UN General Assembly in New York and a summit meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington with whom he will have dinner on September 29.

Trade and investment, energy, science and technology, defence and security are expected to be the areas of focus during their talks. Both sides would seek to give much-needed impetus to the flagging bilateral relationship during the meeting.

In Washington, he will also meet Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State John Kerry, Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel and House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner among others.

This is Prime Minister Modi's maiden visit to the United States as Head of Government and this will also be his first interaction with President Obama.

The September 26 to September 30 visit will also see Prime Minister Modi having three bilateral meetings with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Nepal Prime Minister Sushil Koirala and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in New York.

He will also be meeting United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, and former U.S. president Bill Clinton and his wife and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton.

Prime Minister Modi will also interact with CEOs of Fortune 500 American companies, including Boeing, Pepsico, Google, General Electric and Goldman Sachs among others and also hold one-on-one meetings with some of them. He will address the expatriate Indian community in New York's Madison Square Garden.

The Prime Minister will pay homage at the 9/11 memorial in New York and meet 300 members of the Indian-American business community.

Prime Minister Modi has already had successful diplomatic meetings with leaders of China, Japan, Bhutan, Nepal and Australia.

Modi's address at the UN General Assembly is expected to address issues important to India, including expansion and reform of the UN Security Council, especially keeping in mind the 70th anniversary of the UN that falls in 2015 and on its peacekeeping operations. India is one of the largest contributors to the UN peacekeeping force.