Pichai, Nadella to attend CEO round table; Tillerson, Mattis to call on PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will arrive in the US capital on Saturday evening for his first meeting with President Donald Trump. Mr. Modi will meet Mr. Trump one-on-one in the White House on Monday afternoon, which will be followed by a delegation-level meeting and possibly a working dinner. “My USA visit is aimed at deepening ties between our nations. Strong India-USA ties benefit our nations & the world,” Mr. Modi said in a Twitter post. “I look forward to this opportunity to have an in-depth exchange of views on further consolidating the robust and wide-ranging partnership between India and the United States,” he said.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defence James Mattis will call on Mr. Modi at his hotel earlier on Monday. Mr. Modi will interact with US CEOs on Sunday morning and attend a community reception in the afternoon. Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella will attend a round table with the PM.

“India’s partnership with the United States is multi-layered and diverse, supported by not just governments but all the stakeholders on both sides. I look forward to building a forward looking vision for our partnership with the new administration in the United States under President Trump,” said Mr. Modi.

Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar has already arrived in the city and was scheduled to meet Mr. Tillerson and Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan on Friday. "We are looking forward to strengthening ties between the United States and India," State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said ahead of the visit. "We have a lot of areas of mutual cooperation, of fighting terrorism, and we have a lot of strong people-to-people ties ties; so we are looking forward to that visit," she said.

‘Expect the unexpected’

Both sides have been careful not to raise expectations ahead of the first meeting between the two leaders. Mr. Trump’s meeting with world leaders have taken unscripted courses, a factor that makes Indian planners of the visit nervous. “Both leaders like to surprise people, but do not like being surprised. But, in this case, Mr. Modi will likely expect the unexpected and try to be prepared to deal with it,” pointed out Tanvi Madan, Director, India Projects at Brookings Institution in Washington, DC.