Modi says India-US to work jointly for global peace, security

NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump held a telephone conversation on Monday, the former said in a post on X, making it the maiden contact between the two leaders since the latter’s inauguration last week.

"We are committed to a mutually beneficial and trusted partnership," Modi said in the post, adding that he also congratulated his "dear friend" on his historic second term in office.

"We will work together for the welfare of our people and towards global peace, prosperity, and security," Modi 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.

Trump began his second term last Monday with a flurry of executive actions aimed at overhauling US immigration, and the H1-B visas that allow companies to bring foreigners with specific qualifications to the US.

Following a meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington last week, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said last week New Delhi was prepared to take back its citizens residing illegally in the US.

"We want Indian talent and Indian skills to have the maximum opportunity at the global level. At the same time, we are also very firmly opposed to illegal mobility and illegal migration," Jaishankar, who attended Trump's inauguration, was quoted as saying by NDTV on Wednesday.

"So, with every country, and the US is no exception, we have always taken the view that if any of our citizens are here illegally, and if we are sure that they are our citizens, we have always been open to their legitimate return to India," he added.

Rubio had "emphasised the Trump administration's desire to work with India to advance economic ties and address concerns related to irregular migration," State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a readout after Tuesday's meeting.

The most recent US census showed its Indian-origin population had grown by 50% to 4.8 million in the decade to 2020, while more than a third of the nearly 1.3 million Indian students studying abroad in 2022 were in the US.