Dates for Modi's US trip not finalised yet: State department

Washington: The US has said that no dates have been finalised yet for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Washington visit. “On Prime Minister Modi’s possible travel to the United States we have nothing to announce on dates,” State Department Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf told reporters. [caption id=“attachment_1560027” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  PTI[/caption] “As (US) President (Barack) Obama and Secretary (of State, John) Kerry have both said, we look forward to welcoming the Prime Minister to Washington, just don’t have any dates yet. I know there are a lot of reports out there about dates, but we don’t have dates yet,” Harf said in response to a question. Prime Minister Modi has accepted Obama’s invitation for a meeting in late September and the dates are being finalised, official sources in New Delhi had said earlier this week. The invitation for the meeting came during the congratulatory call to Modi by Obama after the Lok Sabha election results were out. In New Delhi, the Spokesperson in the External Affairs Ministry yesterday said Obama was among the first foreign leaders to make a congratulatory call to Modi during which a specific invitation was made. “We have received a specific date for the visit (from the US). We are now in contact with the US to work out mutually convenient date for Prime Minister to be in Washington for a Summit-level meeting,” the Spokesperson said. However, he did not give dates and only said it will be in the month of September, at the time around the UN General Assembly. PTI