Washington, 22nd June 2023: The White House has announced that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden would take questions from the press on Thursday, and called the event a “big deal.”
“We are just grateful that Prime Minister Modi is participating in a press event at the end of the visit,” said John Kirby, the White House’s national security spokesperson. We think that’s significant, and we’re delighted he does as well.”
According to Kirby, the structure of the news conference will include one question from the US press and one from an Indian journalist. Until now, except for one-on-one interviews, Prime Minister Modi rarely takes questions from the media. He has not given a single press conference since becoming Prime Minister in 2014.
According to Reuters, US officials pre-designate reporters from the American and international media for Biden and his visitor to call on, and only a restricted number of questions are permitted.
This becomes integral to Prime Minister Modi’s United States visit, an accolade reserved for the superpower’s closest allies. The Prime Minister attended International Yoga Day ceremonies at the United Nations headquarters in New York yesterday before flying to Washington DC. Upon reaching there, he participated in a state dinner with US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden.
