Modi-Biden Summit 2023: Takeaways for South Asia

Abstract

On June 21, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in the United States on his first official state visit. Over a very productive two days, Prime Minister Modi spoke to both houses of the U.S. Congress, met with President Joe Biden, and attended a banquet that was arranged in his honor. At the end of the visit, India and the United States published a 58-paragraph ‘joint statement’ highlighting the various facets of their bilateral relationship, with particular emphasis on defense and military cooperation. Notably, the joint statement focused considerably on various facets of regional stability that go beyond the U.S.-India bilateral relationship. However, while the visit and joint statement addressed terrorism in Pakistan and the humanitarian plight in Afghanistan, several other issues of regional stability were ignored, such as Bangladesh’s upcoming national election, the Rohingya crisis, Sri Lanka and Pakistan’s economic issues, and many more.

Keywords: U.S.-India Relations, United States, India, Joe Biden, Narendra Modi, Geopolitics, International Relations