PM Modi meets Australia's PM Morrison ahead of Quad Summit; discusses defence & energy

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday met his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison in Washington ahead of the first in-person Quad (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue) Summit to be hosted by US President Joe Biden and discussed a wide range of topics aimed at deepening the economic and people-to-people linkages between the two countries.

Prime Minister's Office (PMO) took to its Twitter handle and wrote that both the leaders (PM Modi & Scott Morrison) discussed a wide range of subjects aimed at deepening economic and people-to-people linkages between India and Australia. MEA Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi on his Twitter handle shared that both the leaders discussed 'regional and global developments as well as ongoing bilateral cooperation in areas related to COVID-19, trade, defence, clean energy and more.'

PM Modi and Scott Morrison have met a number of times on the sidelines of various international conferences. Earlier, Australian PM Morrison had also called PM Modi to brief him about the plan to go ahead with the Australia, UK, and US (AUKUS) alliance. On September 15, both leaders also held a telephonic conversation, in which the duo reviewed the rapid progress in India-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, including the recent 2+2 Dialogue.

More on PM Modi's US Visit and Quad Summit

PM Modi, who is visiting the US for the seventh time after assuming office in 2014, will be meeting President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for the first time since they took office earlier this year. Another major highlight of the Prime Minister’s visit would be the first-ever in-person QUAD Leaders' Summit. PM Modi has already concluded his meetings with the top 5 CEOs of American companies including Shantanu Narayen from Adobe, Vivek Lall from General Atomics, Cristiano E Amon from Qualcomm, Mark Widmar from First Solar, and Stephen A Schwarzman from Blackstone.

Biden will host PM Modi at the White House on September 24. This is going to be the first in-person meeting between the two leaders ever since Biden took charge as the US President on January 20. Biden will host the first-ever in-person Quad Leaders' Summit, which will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.

(Image: @PMOIndia/Twitter)