G20 Summit In Brazil: Will PM Modi Hold Talks With Outgoing US President Joe Biden?

The US Presidential poll is just over and the president-elect, President Donald Trump is still deciding on his cabinet, but work continues. In the sense, that Kurt Campbell, the deputy Secretary of State of the Joe Biden administration is in New Delhi as is his colleague, Jonathan Finer, the deputy national security advisor. Biden remains President till January 19, with Trump to be sworn in only the next day. Both top officials are here, but next week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in Brazil to participate in the G20 meeting and President Biden is expected to be there. Is a sit down meeting likely? There is no decision as yet in the way meetings with British prime minister Keir Starmer and Brazilian president Luiz Lula da Silva have been decided upon. The PM will certainly greet the US President very warmly and there could be a pull-aside. The two next big moment for the Indo-US relationship is the 2+2 meeting— which is the annual discussion between the US secretaries of state and defence and the Indian external affairs and defence ministers. Trump has already nominated Marco Rubio and Peter Hegseth as Secretary of State and Secretary of Defence respectively, but they have to get Senate clearance first. That will not be difficult though as the Republicans control both houses.