The clarification came after US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor revealed details of a high-profile interaction between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Trump during the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, France.
India’s cautious approach to media access during high-level meetings with US President Donald Trump is rooted in standard VVIP protocol and concerns over his unpredictable behaviour, government sources said.
India had also clearly communicated its preference to US organisers ahead of the Modi-Trump meeting. “Delegations, when meeting the US President, are wary about his unpredictable behaviour, as may be seen from his interactions with the President of South Africa, Ukraine, etc. “We were behind the scenes, behind the stage, and at one point it was just the president and I, and he asked me, he goes, what the Indians are going to raise.
Government sources said it is standard practice for countries to discuss ground rules for press access before meetings involving senior leaders. Thus, the cautious approach by India,” the sources said. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had made only one request before the meeting: media should be allowed to attend the leaders’ opening statements, but there should be no full-fledged question-and-answer session, according to Gor. Recalling the events, Gor said he spoke to Trump privately before the interaction and discussed the issues India was likely to raise. We went over some topics,” Gor said. “I told the president, I said, the Indians prefer no questions. He said, sure, no problem,” Gor recalled. “So the meeting starts, the press comes in, there must have been 50 cameras, the president is sitting here, the prime minister is sitting there, they both speak for a few minutes,” Gor said.
