Modi will travel to the Philippines on Sunday to attend the India-ASEAN and East Asia Summits.
President Donald Trump praised remarkable growth of India after it opened up the economy and its prime minister Narendra Modi during the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Vietnam.
Speaking at the gathering of CEOs as part of the summit, Trump said Modi has been successful in bringing the people of India together despite being a heterogeneous country.
Trump also said countries outside of the Asia-Pacific are also making “great strides in this new chapter for the Indo-Pacific.”
Trump noted that India is the largest democracy in the world with over 1.3 billion population. He also congratulated India, which is celebrating the 70 years of independence this year.
“Since India opened its economy, it has achieved astounding growth and a new world of opportunities for its expanding middle class,” Trump said.
“And Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi has been working to bring that vast country and its entire people as one. And he has been working at it very successfully indeed,” he added.
Modi will travel to the Philippines on Sunday to attend the India-ASEAN and East Asia Summits. Both Modi and Trump might have an interaction during their meeting at the East Asia Summit.
Criticizing the role of China in the region Trump during the APEC business meet spoke about his vision for a free and open Indi-Pacific region.
“We have been friends, partners and allies in the Indo-Pacific for a long, long time,” he said, adding, “The story of this region in recent decades is the story of what is possible when people take ownership of their future.”
Attacking China, Trump said the US has reached the limit of tolerance when it comes to stealing of intellectual property and cautioned that if such practices continue unabated, the US will force the companies indulging in such activities to surrender their technology, forcing them into joint ventures in exchange for market access.
Intellectual property has been a long-standing dispute between the US and Chinese companies as the latter is accused of display of total disregard for the rights granted to the creators.
Earlier during his Asia visit, Trump had met Chinese premier Xi Jinping and discussed without fuss about the unfair trade practices of China, which is causing “enormous trade deficits they have produced with the US.”