Modi's whirlwind US tour to cover lot of ground
Washington, Sep 23 : From a visit to Ground Zero in New York to a landmark summit with President Barack Obama and meetings with business and community leaders, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will cover a lot of ground during his whirlwind tour of US lasting a little over 100 hours. Here is his tentative programme pieced together from various sources: Sep 26: Arrives in New York, stays at New York Palace Hotel; New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio calls on PM; Meets Nobel Prize-winning scientist Harold Eliot Varmus, Director of the National Cancer Institute. Sep 27: Visits Ground Zero and 9/11memorial; Addresses UN General Assembly; Bilateral meetings; Meets former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg; Addresses annual Global Citizen Festival at Central Park; Meets group of eminent Indian-Americans. Sep 28: Meets Nimrata Nikki Randhawa Haley, Indian American Governor of South Carolina; Addresses Indian-American community reception at Madison Square Garden in midtown Manhattan; Attends dinner reception at The Pierre, a luxurious heritage hotel owned by India's Taj hotels, hosted by the Indian Ambassador to the US, S. Jaishankar. Sep 29: Meets business CEOs; Individual meetings with eminent persons; Meets Bill and Hillary Clinton; Addresses Council on Foreign Relations, a leading think tank; Leaves for Washington. Sep 29: Arrives in Washington in the afternoon, checks into Blair House, presidential state guest house across the street from the White House; Has private dinner with President Barack Obama at the White House. Sep 30: Visits Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr memorial and Gandhi statue in front of the Indian embassy in Washington; Formal summit meeting with Obama at the White House; Lunch with Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry at the State Department; Meeting on Capitol Hill with Congressional leaders hosted by Republican House Speaker John Boehner; Reception and policy address to the US-India Business Council (USIBC); Leaves for India.