One man, four days, 35 engagements, Modi’s busy US itinerary

With 35 engagements planned in a span of just four days, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a hectic schedule ahead of him during his visit to the United States.

During his stay between September 26 and 30, he is expected to meet United States’ President Barak Obama in Washington and deliver a public address to Indian-Americans at the Madison Square Garden in New York.

Here are the key highlights of Prime Minister Modi’s event-packed trip to the US:

September 26: The prime minister will be staying at the New York Palace Hotel, where he will meet New York City’s Mayor Bill de Blasio. He will also meet the Nobel Laureate and Director of the National Cancer Institute, Harold Eliot Varmus.

September 27: Mr Modi will pay his homage at Ground Zero, the site of the horrific 9/11 attacks in 2001 and also visit the 9/11 memorial. Later, he will address the 69^th session of the UN General Assembly – on the theme ‘Delivering on and implementing a Transformative Post-2015 Development Agenda’. During the address he is expected to push for Security Council reform.

At the UN, apart from meeting UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, Modi will also hold bilateral talks with Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Nepal’s Prime Minister Sushil Koirala and Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

He will also meet former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He will be the first Indian Prime Minister to address the annual Global Citizen Festival at Central Park, an event that coincides with the UNGA, and meet a group of eminent Indian-Americans.

Modi would also meet the Governors of three US states – New York’s Andrew Cuomo, South Carolina’s Nikki Haley and Maryland’s Martin O’Malley.

September 28: He will take to the stage at New York’s historic Madison Square Gardens to addresses a gathering of over 20,000. The speech is expected to be telecast live across the globe and at New York’s Times Square. After this public gathering he will meet representatives of the Sikh community residing in the US and Canada.

Modi will also meet 10 distinguished Persons of Indian Origin and, separately, members of the US Jewish community. He will attend a dinner reception at The Pierre, a luxurious heritage hotel owned by India’s Taj group of hotels. This banquet is being hosted by Indian Ambassador to the US, S.A. Jaishankar.

September 29: In a bid to enhance the US investments in India, Modi will have a breakfast meeting with top CEOs of 11 US companies and later one-on-one meetings with six CEOS, including, Boeing, Pepsico, General Electric, Google, and Goldman Sachs.

Former US President Bill Clinton accompanied by his wife and former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are also expected to call on Modi at his hotel. He will engage in an individual meeting with a select group of eminent people and with the intelligentsia. Before leaving for Washington he will speak at the Council on Foreign Relations, a leading US think tank.

On his arrival at Washington, Modi will stay at the presidential state guest house, the Blair House. In the evening he will have a private dinner with US’ President Barack Obama at the White House.

September 30: On the last day of his visit he will pay his respects at the Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. memorials and also the statue of Mahatma Gandhi erected in the forecourt of the Indian Embassy in Washington. He will then have the much published formal summit meeting with Obama at the White House, followed by lunch with Joe Biden and John Kerry at the State Department. He will also engage in a meeting with member of the American legislative body at the Capitol Hill, hosted by Congressional leaders Speaker John Boehner.

For his last engagement before he leaves the US, the Prime Minister will be attending a reception and address the US-India Business Council (USIBC).

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