Modi accepts Obama's US visit invitation

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday accepted an invite to meet US President Barack Obama in Washington in September, a statement said, as the two countries look to rebuild strained relations.
US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns formally invited Modi during a meeting between the pair in New Delhi yesterday, as part of a two-day visit to India to strengthen diplomatic and trade ties.
"Prime minister thanked President Obama for the invitation and looked forward to a result-oriented visit with concrete outcomes that imparts new momentum and energy to India-US strategic partnership," a statement from Modi's office said.
Modi had been widely tipped to meet Obama in September when he travels to the US for the UN General Assembly meeting, after the president extended his invite by phone in May.
Modi was controversially refused a visa to visit the US in 2005 over allegations he turned a blind eye or worse to deadly anti-Muslim riots three years earlier in Gujarat state which he was then running.
But US and European governments have been rushing to court Modi since his right-wing party swept to power in May on a pledge to reform the Indian economy.