Modi, Obama hold talks at White House

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday engaged in wide-ranging bilateral talks with US President Barack Obama after arriving at the White House here.

This is the seventh meeting between Modi and Obama in the past two years.

The talks are expected to cover issues like India's membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), inclusion in the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), climate change and bilateral investments and trade.

Modi arrived here on Monday from Switzerland on his second bilateral visit to the US after his trip in September, 2014.

He is visiting the US at the invitation of Obama, who in the last year of his presidency is inviting a few world leaders with whom he shared a "close and productive working relationship".

Following Tuesday's talks, Obama will host Modi for lunch.

Later in the day, the Prime Minister will attend a meeting of business leaders and then address the annual general meeting of the US-India Business Council (USIBC).

After arriving here on Monday, Modi visited the Arlington National Cemetery and laid wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the Space Shuttle Colombia Memorial.

He also attended a meeting of heads of US think tanks and a function at which some rare Indian artifacts were repatriated.

The highlight of Modi's visit will be his address to a joint sitting of the US Congress on Wednesday.

He will be the fifth Indian Prime Minister to address the US Congress after Rajiv Gandhi, P.V. Narasimha Rao, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh.

Later on Wednesday, he will leave for Mexico on the fifth and final leg of his five-nation tour.

Prior to Switzerland, he visited Afghanistan and Qatar.

--IANS

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