Donald Trump speaks with Narendra Modi over phone
1 min read 24 Jan 2017, 02:31 PM ISTModi would be the fifth foreign leader Donald Trump would have spoken with over phone after being sworn-in as the US President on 20 January
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Washington: US President Donald Trump on Tuesday spoke with Prime Minister Narendra Modi over phone, the White House said, four days after he was sworn-in as the 45th President of America.
President Trump had a telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Modi, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said. Modi is the fifth foreign leader Trump have spoken with over phone after being sworn-in as the US President on 20 January.
On January 21, Trump spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican Premier Pena Nieto. On Sunday, Trump spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and on Monday, he had a telephonic conversation with the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
After Trump surprised the world with his historic victory in the 8 November general elections, Modi was among the first five world leaders to have congratulated Trump.
During his gruelling election campaign, India is among the few countries, in addition to Israel, with whom Trump spoke of strengthening ties if elected to power.
At a charity event organised by the Republican Hindu Coalition for the Kashmiri Pandit terror victims and the Bangladeshi Hindu victims in Edison on 15 October, Trump, as the then Republican presidential nominee, had praised India’s fast growth rate and Modi’s bureaucratic and economic reforms.
“Under a Trump Administration, we are going to become even better friends, in fact I would take the term better out and we would be best friend," Trump had told a cheering crowd of Indian-Americans in Edison, New Jersey. “I look forward to working with Prime Minister Modi," he had said, adding that the Indian leader is very energetic. “India is key and a key strategic ally," he had said.
