Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump held a telephonic conversation last evening and exchanged New Year greetings.
This is the first conversation between the two leaders since they met for a trilateral forum along with Japan along the sidelines of the G20 summit in Argentina in November.
The conversation comes just days after Trump in a press conference mocked Modi about Indian aid and assistance to Afghanistan referring to the parliament building that India built as a “library”.
“They expressed satisfaction at the progress in India-US strategic partnership in 2018. They appreciated developments such as the launch of the new 2+2 dialogue mechanism and the first-ever trilateral summit of India, the US and Japan,” said the Ministry of External Affairs.
Discussions included bilateral cooperation in defence, counter-terrorism and energy and coordination on regional and global issues, said MEA.
According to the White House statement, PM Modi dialled Trump.
“The leaders agreed to strengthen the US-India strategic partnership in 2019 and exchanged perspectives on how to reduce the US trade deficit with India, expand security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific, and increase cooperation in Afghanistan,” added the US government statement.
Earlier Russian President Vladimir Putin and PM Modi also spoke over the phone on Monday.