WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump stressed the importance of India buying more American-made security equipment and moving toward a fair bilateral trading relationship in a phone call with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, the White House said.
In what the White House called a “productive call,” the leaders discussed expanding and deepening cooperation and regional issues, including security in the Indo-Pacific, the Middle East, and Europe.
They also discussed plans for Modi to visit the White House, “underscoring the strength of the friendship and strategic ties between our nations,” it said.
Reuters reported last week that Indian and USdiplomats are trying to arrange a meeting of the two leaders as early as February.
“The president emphasized the importance of India increasing its procurement of American-made security equipment and moving toward a fair bilateral trading relationship,” a White House statement said.
The United States is India’s largest trading partner and two-way trade between the two countries surpassed $118 billion in 2023/24, with India posting a trade surplus of $32 billion.
India, a strategic partner of the United States in its efforts to counter China, is keen to enhance trade with the US and make it easier for its citizens to get skilled worker visas.
The White House said both leaders emphasized their commitment to advancing the US-India strategic partnership and the Quad grouping that brings together the United States and India with Australia and Japan, with India to host Quad leaders later this year.
Foreign ministers of the Quad, who share concerns about China’s growing power, met last week in Washington the day after Trump’s return to office and recommitted to working together.
Earlier on Monday, Modi referred to Trump as a “dear friend” and said they were both “committed to a mutually beneficial and trusted partnership.”
“We will work together for the welfare of our people and toward global peace, prosperity, and security,” Modi said in a social-media post.
Trump emphasizes ‘fair’ trade relations in call with India’s Modi, White House says
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Trump emphasizes ‘fair’ trade relations in call with India’s Modi, White House says
- Leaders discussed expanding and deepening cooperation and regional issues, including security in Indo-Pacific, Middle East, Europe
- Reuters reported last week Indian and US diplomats are trying to arrange a meeting of the two leaders as early as February
UN chief calls on Israel to reverse NGOs ban in Gaza
- In November, authorities in Gaza said more than 70,000 people had been killed there since the war broke out
- Israel on Thursday suspended 37 foreign humanitarian organizations from accessing the Gaza Strip after they had refused to share lists of their Palestinian employees with government officials
UNITED NATIONS, United States: UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called on Friday for Israel to end a ban on humanitarian agencies that provided aid in Gaza, saying he was “deeply concerned” at the development.
Guterres “calls for this measure to be reversed, stressing that international non-governmental organizations are indispensable to life-saving humanitarian work and that the suspension risks undermining the fragile progress made during the ceasefire,” his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
“This recent action will further exacerbate the humanitarian crisis facing Palestinians,” he added.
Israel on Thursday suspended 37 foreign humanitarian organizations from accessing the Gaza Strip after they had refused to share lists of their Palestinian employees with government officials.
The ban includes Doctors Without Borders (MSF), which has 1,200 staff members in the Palestinian territories — the majority of whom are in Gaza.
NGOs included in the ban have been ordered to cease their operations by March 1.
Several NGOS have said the requirements contravene international humanitarian law or endanger their independence.
Israel says the new regulation aims to prevent bodies it accuses of supporting terrorism from operating in the Palestinian territories.
On Thursday, 18 Israel-based left-wing NGOs denounced the decision to ban their international peers, saying “the new registration framework violates core humanitarian principles of independence and neutrality.”
A fragile ceasefire has been in place since October, following a deadly war waged by Israel in response to Hamas’s unprecedented October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
In November, authorities in Gaza said more than 70,000 people had been killed there since the war broke out.
Nearly 80 percent of buildings in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged by the war, according to UN data, leaving infrastructure decimated.
About 1.5 million of Gaza’s more than two million residents have lost their homes, said Amjad Al-Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGO Network in Gaza.
