Narendra Modi-Joe Biden to hold virtual meet today: What’s on the agenda?

Amid growing pressure from the West on India for its oil deals with Russia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a virtual meeting with US President Joe Biden on Monday. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that the Modi-Biden meeting will “enable both sides to continue their regular and high-level engagement aimed at further strengthening the bilateral comprehensive global strategic partnership.” The virtual meeting between the two leaders will be held ahead of the Indo-US 2+2 talks in Washington on Monday at the foreign and defence ministerial level. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Biden and Modi will discuss cooperation on a range of issues, including “ending the COVID-19 pandemic, countering the climate crisis, strengthening the global economy, and upholding a free, open rules-based international border to bolster security, democracy and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific”. Let’s take a look at what all that will be discussed between Modi and Biden: Russia-Ukraine war One of the hot topics on the agenda would be the Russia-Ukraine war. The White House said in its briefing that “Consultations on the consequences of Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine and mitigating its destabilising impact on global food supply and commodity markets will be discussed”. It is also quite likely that India continuing to import Russian oil may come up during the discussions as it has been brought up over the last few weeks after the US and other nations imposed heavy sanctions on Moscow over the Ukraine invasion. Also read: Explaining India’s position on Ukraine war, West’s coercive pressure, China-Russia tangle and pitfalls in New Delhi’s pursuit of neutrality As per a report by the Economic Times, the US may prop up global petroleum reserves with an aim to get India to reduce its oil imports from Russia. India has so far maintained that it has been unfairly targeted for its oil imports from Russia while Europe continues to import its bulk energy from Russia. Late last month, US Deputy National Security Adviser for International Economics Daleep Singh during a visit to New Delhi said that Washington would not like to see a “rapid” acceleration in India’s import of energy and other commodities from Russia. Discussion on Indo-Pacific region Modi and Biden will likely further the continuing conversations about the development of an Indo-Pacific Economic Framework and delivering high-quality infrastructure. Seeking stronger trade and supply chain ties with Japan and Southeast Asia, in a bid to counter China’s influence in the region, the US may launch the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework by late-April or early-May. The two leaders will also discuss UN Security Council issues as well as India’s G-20 presidency. As per the ET report, China’s aggression and Indo-US cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region including Quad will figure high on the agenda. The 2+2 ministerial dialogue Soon after the virtual meet between Modi and Biden, the fourth India-US ‘2+2’ foreign and defence ministerial dialogue will be held in Washington. In a statement released last week, the US state department noted that the 2+2 meeting would celebrate 75 years of diplomatic relations between the two nations. “The 2+2 Ministerial is an important opportunity to advance our shared objectives across the breadth of the US-India Strategic Partnership, including enhancing our people-to-people ties and education cooperation, building diverse, resilient supply chains for critical and emerging technology, scaling up our climate action and public health cooperation, and developing a trade and investment partnership to increase prosperity for working families in both countries. It is also a chance to highlight the growing Major Defense Partnership between the United States and India,” the US state department had said.