Modi of India will be hosted by Biden for a state dinner this summer

This summer, US President Joe Biden intends to hold a state dinner for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi., people familiar with the matter said.

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As the administration promotes policies and initiatives for a free and open Indo-Pacific to offset what it perceives as a growing threat presented by China, the formal state visit is a demonstration of the developing US-Indian relations.

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The state dinner is scheduled to take place in June by the White House, but the timing may change, according to the people knowledgeable. A National Security Council official declined to comment.

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In September, India will host the summit of the Group of 20 leaders in New Delhi, where the invasion of Ukraine by Russia will be one of the main subjects of conversation. Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, may or may not attend the event.

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When the leaders of Australia, Japan, and the United States meet in Australia in May for the Quad summit, Biden is also anticipated to see Modi there.

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It will be President Joe Biden's third official state visit and dinner; the first two were for French President Emmanuel Macron in December and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on April 26.

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An initiative to exchange cutting-edge defense and computing technology, including the joint production of General Electric Co. jet engines, was launched by the US and India last month.

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As much as the US and its allies would like, India has not been as vocal about Putin's conflict in Ukraine. By lowering New Delhi's historical reliance on Moscow for military hardware and China's rising assertiveness, the alliance on key technology aims to partially counter Russian influence in India. Both partisan political figures in the US have worked to improve ties with Modi.

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"The China-Russia factors are genuine, but so is the concept of developing a rich, democratic ecosystem of high technology," National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters when previewing the collaboration. “So, geopolitics isn't ignored, but it doesn't fully explain the dynamics at play in this situation.”