WASHINGTON : Prime Minister Narendra Modi today held discussion, covering wide ranging issues, with the American think tanks, representing whole range of spectrum of opinion as he began the forth leg of his five-nation tour.
After his arrival here, Mr Modi started formal engagements with a visit to Arlington Cemetery where he paid homage to the unknown martyred soldiers, thus becoming the third Indian Prime Minister to visit the memorial after Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi. The Prime Minister also visited Columbia Space shuttle memorial to pay tribute to Kalpana Chawla, an astronaut of India, who perished along with her six crew-mates on February 1, 2003, over Texas as Columbia was re-entering Earth’s atmosphere en route to a landing at Kennedy Space Center.
Close relatives of Kalpana Chawala and American astronaut of Indian origin Sunita Williams were also present on the occasion. Mr Modi also witnessed a ceremony where a number of cultural artifacts illegally taken from India, were handed over back to Indians. During the ceremony 12 artifacts, some of them date back to 1000 years, belonging to Chola dynasty and some date back to 2000 years, were returned.
Briefing media persons about the day long engagements of the Prime Minister, India’s Ambassador to the US Arun Kumar Singh said the meeting with the American think tanks was quite enriching as the opinion makers discussed what India and the US can do together for the betterment of the world. The Prime Minister’s high profile bilateral meeting with US President Barack Obama will take place tomorrow. He would be hosted by Mr Obama at the White House followed by a working lunch. Mr Modi would also address the joint sitting of the US Congress before flying to Mexico in the last leg of the tour. (AGENCIES)
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