Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday met US President Joe Biden for a bilateral meeting at the Oval Office in the White House. “I look forward to strengthening the deep ties between our two nations, working to uphold a free and open Indo-Pacific, and tackling everything from Covid-19 to climate change,” US President Joe Biden tweeted ahead of the meeting.

Prime Minister Modi is meeting Biden as a part of the first in-person gathering of leaders of an Indo-Pacific alliance known as the Quad. He will also meet leaders from Japan and Australia at the White House.

The meeting, hosted by the US leader, will give Biden a chance to put the spotlight on a central aim of his foreign policy: turning greater attention to the Pacific in the face of what the US sees as China’s coercive economic practices and unsettling military maneuvering in the region. The four leaders’ talks are also expected to centre on climate, COVID-19 response and cyber security.

Source: The Indian Express