PM Narendra Modi to meet top executives of 16 US companies on Saturday

Modi will meet top executives of 16 firms, mostly US energy giants, including ExxonMobil, Perot Group, Baker Hughes

Apart from addressing the Indian diaspora at Houston, with US President Donald Trump joining him, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the UN General Assembly (UNGA) session during his six-day visit to the US, and hold round tables with 61 top executives of some of the biggest corporate groups.

Modi will meet top executives of 16 companies, mostly US energy giants, including ExxonMobil, Perot Group, Baker Hughes, BP, Cheniere Energy, Dominion Energy, and others, in Houston on Saturday. In New York on September 25, Modi will hold a round table with top executives of 45 companies, including Microsoft, Google, Lockheed Martin, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Mastercard, Visa, Amway, JPMorgan, Bank of America and Walmart.

The US President has said that he may make an announcement at the “Howdy Modi!” event in Houston on Sunday, when he will join Modi in addressing an estimated 50,000 members of the Indian diaspora. “Could be. I have a very good relationship with Prime Minister Modi,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday when asked if there would be any announcement when he goes to Houston for the rally. Trump did not elaborate.

Officials of the two countries are trying to finalise a trade deal before Modi and Trump meet in Houston. Trade tensions between India and the US have been rising with Trump complaining that tariffs imposed by New Delhi on American products were “no longer acceptable”.

Trump said the crowd for the event in Houston has now become bigger after it was announced that he would be going there. “He (Modi) has got a big crowd coming and I guess the crowd just got a lot bigger because they just announced — he asked, would I go, and I will go,” he said.

In New Delhi, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said the focus of the PM’s visit to the UNGA will not be on terrorism, but on highlighting India’s achievements and its global role. He said scrapping of provisiosn of Article 370 was an internal issue and off the agenda at the UN. The PM will address the UN General Assembly and have at least 20 bilateral meetings with other leaders. He will also meet Trump for a second time.

The PM will arrive in Houston on Saturday and head straight into his first business event — a round table with several chief executives from the energy sector. On September 22 morning, Modi will address the Indian community. President Trump and several elected Congressional representatives from both Democratic and Republican parties will be present at the event, Gokhale said. The PM is expected to have a separate interactive session with members of the US Congress after which he will leave for New York.

On September 23, there are several multilateral events lined up beginning with the Climate Summit organised by UN Secretary General Antonio Guetteres which Modi will attend. Other events will include a leadership dialogue on the strategic responses to terrorists and violent extremist narratives, he said.

Modi’s us visit at a glance

Houston, September 21: CEOs of 16 leading corporates will attend the roundtable with the PM in Houston on Saturday. These include Air Products, Baker Hughes, BP, Cheniere Energy, Dominion Energy, Emerson Electric Company, ExxonMobil, Perot Group and Hillwood, IHS Markit, LyondellBasell Industries, McDermott, Schlumberger, Tellurian, Total, Vinmar International and
Westlake Chemicals

New York, September 25: CEOs of 45 leading companies will attend the roundtable with Modi in New York. These include 3M Company, AECOM, The AES Corporation, Amway, Bank of America, The Blackstone Group, Coca-Cola, Deloitte, IBM, Cisco Systems, JPMorgan & Chase, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR&Co), Lennar Corp, Lynx, Lockheed Martin, Mastercard, Microsoft, Qualcomm Technology, Visa, Walmart Retail, Amazon Retail, GE Aviation, GE Company, Black Rock, Google, PepsiCo, as well as Westinghouse Electric Corporation Energy, among others