Modi, Trump hold 'warm, productive meeting' in Manila

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump held a "warm and productive meeting" on the sidelines of the Asean Summit here on Monday and discussed issues of mutual interest.

A day after they held a brief interaction at a dinner hosted by Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte, the two leaders "Discussed bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest", External Affairs Ministry Raveesh Kumar said.

The meeting also comes a day after India, US, Japan and Australia held talks to begin the quadrilateral process for greater cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region.

Ahead of his meeting with Trump, Modi said: "Relations between India and the US are growing."

"I also feel that these relations between India and the US are not just for our mutual interests but go much beyond that, and we are working together for the interests of the future of Asia and for humanity as a whole in the world."

Modi said that in the past few days, wherever President Trump has travelled and whenever an opportunity arose to talk about India, he has expressed very high opinion about India said things full of hope.

At the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Vietnam last week, Trump commended India for achieving "astounding" growth since opening its economy and heaped praise on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he has been working to bring the country and its people together.

"I would like to assure you that whatever are the expectations of the world, of the United States from India, India has always worked and made efforts to do our bit and fulfil those expectations and we will continue to do so in the future too," Modi said.

This was the second Modi-Trump meeting after the Indian leader's visit to Washington in June.

Modi arrived here on Sunday on a three-day visit to the Philippines during which he will attend the 15th India-Asean Summit and the 12th East Asia Summit on Tuesday.

--IANS

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