Washington, DC – India friendly Governor Martin O’Malley of the State of Maryland on September 30 had a high level meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, the world’s largest democracy, at Blair House in Washington, DC. Also present were Rajan Natarajan, Deputy Secretary of State of Maryland, Sushma Swaraj, Indian External Affairs Minister and JaiShankar, Indian Ambassador to the United States.
The meeting occurred during Modi’s historic first visit to the United States as prime minister. Governor O’Malley is one of only two American governors to meet with Modi during the 5-day visit to the United States.
Having led a large State delegation to India in 2011, Gov. O’Malley’s meeting with the Indian prime minister presented an opportunity to discuss a range of mutual interests in order to expand and deepen the diplomatic and trading partnership between the State of Maryland and India.
The meeting began with Governor O’Malley noting that Indian Americans represent the highest percentage of population among Asian Americans, and that Maryland has elected three individuals from Indian American community to the Maryland House of Delegates. The group also represents the largest Indian-American caucus in the US.
O’Malley and Modi also discussed the subjects of Education, Healthcare, Geological Information Systems (GIS)/Technology, CitiStat/StateStat and Trade/Economy. During the meeting, Governor O’Malley also talked about his visit to India in 2011, the largest trade mission of his term as governor.
Both leaders talked about investment opportunities that exist in Maryland and India. The prime minister invited the Governor O’Malley to attend two upcoming business and trade conferences, one in Indore on October 10, 2014 and another on January 10, 2015, in the state of Gujarat.
At the end of the meeting, Governor O’Malley presented the Indian Prime Minister, a Maryland coffee table book.