PM Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump will be addressing “Howdy, Modi!” event in Houston. This will be the first time a US President and an Indian PM will be addressing a joint rally.
US President Donald Trump will be joining Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the “Howdy, Modi” event in Houston. More than 50,000 Indian-Americans will be attending the “Howdy, Modi! Shared Dreams, Bright Futures” event at the NRG Stadium in Houston on September 22. ‘Howdy’, which is short for ‘How do you do?’, is a common greeting in the southwestern United States.
The White House issued a statement to confirm the news. White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham said that the joint rally “will be a great opportunity to emphasize the strong ties between the people of the United States and India”. She further added that the rally will “reaffirm the strategic partnership between the world’s oldest and largest democracies” and the two leaders will “discuss ways to deepen their energy and trade relationship.”
This will be the first time an American President will be addressing thousands of Indian-Americans at one place in the US. Indian ambassador to the US Harsh Vardhan Shringla called Trump’s decision to participate in the event “historic” and “unprecedented”. “It is reflective of the strong bonds of friendship and cooperation that has developed between India and the US,” he added.
White House officials averred that PM Narendra Modi had asked the US President to join him at the event in Houston when the two met in France last month. Officials added that Trump “immediately accepted” the invitation.
This will be the third meeting between US President Donald Trump and PM Modi this year. The other two meetings were on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in June in Japan and in France in July on the sidelines of the G7 Summit.