NEW DELHI: US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi areexpected to have a separate meeting on the sidelines of the World EconomicForum in Davos later this month, reports said on Wednesday.
Trump and Modi’s attendance at Davos meet assumes great significance, asthe former would be the first US president to attend an annual gathering ofglobal economic leaders in 18 years, while the latter would be the firstIndian PM to attend the mega event since 1997.
The White House confirmed on Tuesday that Trump will take his populistmessage directly to the world`s business and financial elite attending theWorld Economic Forum in Davos.
Trump — who ran for president on a nationalist “America First” platform –will mingle at the annual Alpine festival of globalism in Switzerland, andperhaps offer a few views of his own.
Not only, Trump’s participation, but PM Modi’s decision to be a part of theevent is making headlines.
PM Modi is slated to address the plenary session of the prestigious globalbusiness meet, Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu announced on Tuesday.
According to the Commerce Ministry, WEF 2018, to be held over January23-26, will be attended by 350 political leaders, including over 60 headsof state or government, and CEOs of the world’s major companies.
While Modi is slated to address the inaugural plenary session on January23, he is to be followed by an impressive array of Indian ministers whowill take part in various group sessions.
Besides Prabhu, they include Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, RailwaysMinister Piyush Goyal and Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan as well asthe respective Ministers of State in the PMO Jitendra Singh and for theExternal Affairs Ministry M.J. Akbar, a Commerce Ministry release said.
According to observers, Modi’s first visit to WEF is an opportunity tointeract with foreign investors following the implementation of the majorstructural reform of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), as well as thedemonetisation measure of November 2016.