Prime Minister Narendra Modi with US President Joe Biden at Mahatma Gandhi's memorial Rajghat on the final day of the G20 Summit, in New Delhi, Sunday, Sept. 10, 2023.
Credit: PTI Photo
President Joe Biden on Sunday hailed the partnership between India and the US, saying it is rooted in Mahatma Gandhi's principle of trusteeship that is shared between the two countries.
President Biden and other G20 leaders paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at his memorial Rajghat in New Delhi on Sunday.
"The partnership between India and the United States is rooted in Mahatma Gandhi’s principal of trusteeship – trusteeship that is shared between our countries and for our shared planet. Thank you, Prime Minister for bringing us here today (sic),” Biden said in a post on platform X.
Biden, who is currently in Hanoi, Vietnam on an official visit, also posted a picture of him and the G20 leaders paying tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at his memorial.
At the memorial, Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed Biden and G20 leaders with an 'angvastram' or stole having in the background an image of Gandhi's Sabarmati Ashram in Gujarat, which was his home from 1917 to 1930 and served as one of the main centres of India's freedom struggle.
The G20 leaders later paid tribute to Gandhi by laying wreaths together at his samadhi.
"It was an honor to visit the Raj Ghat Memorial today, and lay a wreath with my fellow G20 leaders. Mahatma Gandhi’s message of non-violence, respect, and truth matters today more than ever - may it continue to inspire the world and be the basis of the bond between our countries," Biden said in another post. He also posted a 19-second video of the event.
Earlier, President Biden said this year's G20 summit has proven that the grouping can still drive solutions to its most pressing issues.
"At a moment when the global economy is suffering from the overlapping shocks of the climate crisis, fragility, and conflict, this year's Summit proved that the G20 can still drive solutions to our most pressing issues," Biden said in a post on X as he left for Vietnam.
On his first visit to India as the US President, Biden arrived in New Delhi on Friday to attend the two-day G20 summit and held talks with Prime Minister Modi the same day.
In their over 50-minute talks, Modi and Biden on Friday vowed to 'deepen and diversify' the bilateral major defence partnership while welcoming forward movement in India's procurement of 31 drones and joint development of jet engines.
Biden also participated in key sessions of the G20 Summit on Saturday.