PM Narendra Modi in the Netherlands

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis separately called on Modi, setting to tone for the summit meeting between the prime minister and Trump.

The issues that figured prominently in these discussions included terrorism, Afghanistan and the situation in the Asia Pacific region.

"There was a strong focus on terrorism and cooperation in counter-terrorism," External Affairs Ministry spokesman Gopal Baglay told reporters while briefing on the meeting between Modi and Tillerson.

"It is very clear that given the challenges that the two countries have faced and continue to face and the rest of the world also faces from this global menace of terrorism, the discussions in the courtesy call touched upon how the two sides have cooperated in countering terrorism and the broad direction in which they can develop this cooperation further," he added.

Modi conveyed to Tillerson that the "fulcrum of India's foreign policy" is to have good relations with all nations, "in particular with its neighbours."

During the meeting with Tillerson which covered strategic areas and economic cooperation, Modi defined the Indo-US ties as the "defining partnership" and said it has a global importance.

The prime minister said the whole world was looking at the partnership, according to External Affairs Ministry spokesman Gopal Baglay.

He expressed India's desire to work with the US for promoting the partnership, said Baglay while briefing the media on these meetings.

Referring to terrorism, Modi said it was posing a challenge to both the countries.

The US state department named Salahuddin, whose given name is Mohammad Yusuf Shah, a global terrorist under US provisions that impose sanctions on foreigners "who have committed, or pose a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorism that threaten the security of US nationals or the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States."

"Discriminating against foreign organisations that help the citizens of India is counterproductive, and it needs to change. I ask that President Trump address this serious issue with Prime Minister Modi during his upcoming trip to Washington," Senator John Kennedy said in a statement. Joined by Senators Roy Blunt, Mike Crapo, James Lankford, and Amy Klobuchar, Kennedy sent a letter to Trump ahead of the White House meeting between the two leaders.

Today @POTUS will welcome the Prime Minister of India, @narendramodi, to the White House. pic.twitter.com/MIi1ifmdAN

& mdash; The White House (@WhiteHouse) June 26, 2017

First Lady Melania Trump will join the President in welcoming Modi; she will also join them for dinner and later participate in the departure ceremony, making three appearances with the visiting leader, who is single by virtue of an early marriage (at 18) he chose to abandon. Melania Trump has only just moved in to the White House and this will be the first big reception she will part of in the Presidential mansion, although she and President Trump hosted China's President Xi Jinping, and his wife, Peng Liyuan in Mara-a-Lago, Florida in April.

The two leaders will then proceed to the Rose Garden to deliver a joint opening statements to the media between 5.10 p.m. and 5.30 p.m. (EST) (i.e. 2.40 a.m. and 3 a.m. IST on Tuesday June 27).

Following the joint opening statements to the media, both leaders and their respective delegations will attend a cocktail reception hosted by Vice President Mike Pence on the State Floor of the White House between 5.30 p.m. and 6 p.m. (EST) (i.e. 3 a.m. and 3.30 a.m. IST on Tuesday June 27).

This will be followed by a dinner hosted by President Trump for the Indian Prime Minister and his delegation at the same venue (State Floor) between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. (EST) (i.e. 3.30 a.m. to 5.30 a.m. IST on Tuesday June 27).

After the dinner, Prime Minister Modi will leave for his hotel.

American online retail giant Amazon, which has committed investments to the tune of $5 billion in India, will "keep investing and growing in India", its chief Jeff Bezos has said. After his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bezos tweeted: "Terrific meeting with @narendramodi. Always impressed, energized by optimism and invention in India. Excited to keep investing and growing." Bezos was among the 20 US business leaders who interacted with Modi as part of a roundtable interaction.

Inviting chiefs of top US companies to invest in India, PM Narendra Modi said the country has emerged as a business-friendly destination, particularly with the upcoming implementation of GST, which he termed a gamechanger. "Interacted with top CEOs. We held extensive discussions on opportunities in India," Modi tweeted after the meeting, which lasted for about 90 minutes and included Tim Cook of Apple, Sunder Pichai of Google, and Jeff Bezos of Amazon.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi caused a stir during an address to Indian-Americans on Sunday by referring to the progress being made by India from "Kashmir to Kanyakumari, from Attock to Cuttack." While the expression "Kashmir to Kanyakumari" has been in vogue for several decades, "Attock to Cuttack," used in the pre-Partition days, went out of circulation after Independence when the northwestern city became part of Pakistan. Cuttack is in Odisha, in Eastern India.

"The meeting will provide more clarity on whether the past six months have been Act 1 in a surprising friendship or Round 1 of a protracted slugging match," he said.

"If the chemistry is good, everything else gets sorted," said an Indian official. "The only way is up. How much up we go depends on the leaders. If they click, we go up higher."

PM Modi and US President Trump will have one-on-one talks followed by statements to the news media without taking questions. They will then have a working dinner, the first time Trump has played host to a foreign dignitary at a White House dinner.