Narendra Modi won’t be taking a direct flight to New York this week.
Before beginning his second visit to the US since becoming India’s prime minister, Modi will stopover in Ireland on Sept. 23. Modi will become the first prime minister in nearly 60 years to make a visit to Dublin, the Irish capital. There, he’ll hold talks with the head of the Ireland’s government, Taoiseach Enda Kenny, before heading across the Atlantic.
Once in the US, Modi will attend a series of meetings at the 70th anniversary of the United Nations (UN) and have dinner with a few Fortune-500 CEOs in New York. After that, the Indian prime minister will be off to the West Coast.
Here’s what we know about his schedule in the US so far:
Sept. 24 and 25
Modi will touch down in New York, where he delivered a much-celebrated speech at a packed Madison Square Garden last year. But there’s no big jamboree planned in the city this year.
Instead, the Indian prime minister will address a far less raucous group, mostly heads of states, at the UN Sustainable Development Summit. The summit will bring together over 150 world leaders.
At the UN gathering, Modi is scheduled to host a meeting with the G4 nations—Brazil, Germany, India, and Japan—to discuss reforms to the UN Security Council (UNSC). The G4 grouping back each others’ candidacy for a permanent seat at the UNSC.
Modi will also attend a summit hosted by US president Barack Obama on peacekeeping. “India has historically been one of the largest contributors to the UN peacekeeping forces. Over 180,000 Indian troops have participated in UN peacekeeping missions—more than from any other country,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement.
Before flying out of New York, Modi will host a group of Fortune 500 CEOs for a working dinner. Heads of Ford Motors, Lockheed Martin, IBM, PepsiCo, Dupont, Merck, Qualcomm Inc, and Abbott Laboratories are expected to attend the dinner, the Economic Times newspaper reported.
Sept. 26
The next two days of Modi’s US trip will be closely watched, as the Indian prime minister will head to California. The last time an Indian prime minister visited the West Coast was in 1982 when Indira Gandhi went to Los Angeles.
Modi’s itinerary includes visits to the facilities of internet search major Google and automotive and energy storage pioneer Tesla Motors—counted among the most innovative companies on the globe.
He will also host “India-US startup Konnect”—an event where a group of Indian startups will present their products to an American gathering. “India is emerging as a hub of startups in a wide range of areas and we aspire to take this further. We want the world to see our innovation capabilities in the startup sector,” Modi said in a Facebook post.
Sept. 27
Modi will be part of a townhall-style question-and-answer session with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg at the social networking giant’s headquarters at Menlo Park in California.
“We will discuss some global issues and issues relating to India, particularly on the economy and society,” Modi said in a Facebook post. “This is a townhall you shouldn’t miss.”
According to a Facebook post by Zuckerberg, the townhall would be held at 9:30am pacific time (10:00pm in India).
On the last day of his trip, Modi will address the Indian diaspora in San Jose at a “community reception.”
“The Indian diaspora has left no stone unturned in strengthening India-USA ties. We are very proud of the accomplishments of our diaspora that has made immense contributions to both our societies,” Modi said on Facebook.
The reception for Modi—which promises to be as flamboyant as the one at Madison Square Garden last year— by the Indian diaspora is being held at the SAP centre, which has the capacity to hold 17,496 people. The event is already overbooked.