PM Modi meets Trump upon arriving in the Philippines
Upon arriving in the Philippines as part of a tour which will see him attend the 15th ASEAN-India Summit and the 12th East Asia Summit, PM Narendra Modi met several foreign leaders informally. US President Donald Trump was among those Modi met. They shared a half-hug and chatted with each other. Modi is scheduled to meet Trump tomorrow in a scheduled bilateral talk.
First Indian PM visit to Philippines in 36 years
PM Modi's visit to the Philippines is the first prime ministerial visit to the country from India in 36 years since the visit of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1981.
PM Modi's schedule in the Philippines
PM Modi was seen interacting with the host, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte. Modi also went on to meet other leaders and diplomats including Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, Russian PM Dmitry Medvedev, Japanese PM Shinzo Abe, and Malaysian PM Najib Razak. Apart from the ASEAN-India Summit, PM Modi is also scheduled to meet the Indian diaspora in the Philippines, along with trips to research foundations.
The presence of India-ASEAN in the world
India and the 10-member ASEAN group comprise a population of 1.85 billion people, almost one-fourth of the global population. Trade between India and ASEAN countries stood at $64.5 billion in 2015-16, and the combined GDP of India plus the ASEAN countries stand at $3.8 trillion.
The agenda of the scheduled Modi-Trump bilateral talks
PM Modi's bilateral talk with President Trump on Monday is set to be the two leaders' first one-on-one engagement since Japan proposed a quadrilateral alliance between India, US, Japan, and Australia. Trump and Modi are set to discuss a set of issues of mutual interest including India's economic growth rate and the future of India's role in the strategically key Indo-Pacific region.
