PM Modi to visit US next month; address Indian community event in Long Island, New York on September 22

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address members of the Indian-American community at a mega diaspora event here next month when he visits the United States for the high-level UN General Assembly session. The community event will be held on September 22 at the 16,000-seater Nassau Coliseum in Long Island.

Modi is scheduled to address the high-level UN General Assembly session on September 26, according to a provisional list of speakers issued by the United Nations, according to news agency PTI.

This will be the fifth time when Modi will address the Indian community in the US. Preparations are in full swing for the community event in Long Island, coming 10 years after Modi had addressed a packed community gathering at the famed Madison Square Garden in New York in September 2014, PTI said quoting sources. Th Madison Square Garden event was organised months after Modi took charge as Prime Minister and had visited the city to attend the high-level annual General Assembly session.

The event’s theme is ‘Modi & US: Progress Together’, and aims to celebrate India and the US and the ‘cultural ethos’ of viewing the world as one family and the well-being of all people and the planet an inspiration for building a ‘better world together.’

In 2019, Modi addressed the mega community event ‘Howdy Modi’ at the NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, where he was joined by then-US president Donald Trump.

This year, Modi’s visit to the US comes just weeks before the country goes to the presidential polls on November 5 with a race to the top office between Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democratic Presidential nominee Kamala Harris.

The high-level General Debate of the 79th session of the UN General Assembly will take place from September 24-30. As per the provisional list of speakers for the General Debate issued by the UN on Monday, India’s ‘Head of Government’ is scheduled to address the high-level session in the afternoon of September 26.

Modi took oath in June as Prime Minister for a historic third term and had last addressed the annual high-level UNGA session in September 2021. He visited the UN headquarters on June 21 last year, leading a historic Yoga Day commemoration at the North Lawn of the world body’s headquarters before heading to Washington DC for a State Visit hosted by President Joe Biden.

World leaders will convene at the United Nations to adopt the Pact for the Future, which includes a Global Digital Compact and a Declaration on Future Generations as annexes.

Before his US visit, Modi is also scheduled to visit Poland on August 21, according to reports. This will be the first visit of an Indian Prime Minister to the central European country since Morarji Desai’s trip in 1979.

Modi is also scheduled to visit Ukraine on August 23. PM Modi will meet President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, during the visit.

(With PTI inputs)