PM Modi and President Biden meet: Exchange special gifts

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday exchanged special gifts with President of the United States Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden at the White House, in Washington during his state visit.

Biden and First Lady hosted PM Modi for an intimate dinner at the White House. The dinner featured the president's favourite foods, including pasta and ice cream.

As an official gift, US President Joe Biden and the first lady presented Prime Minister Modi with a handmade, antique American book galley from the early 20th Century.

They also gifted PM Modi a vintage American camera, accompanied by an archival facsimile print of George Eastman's Patent of the first Kodak camera, a hardcover book of American wildlife photography and a signed, first edition copy of 'Collected Poems of Robert Frost', the White House said.

PM Modi arrived in Washington from New York where he led a historic event at the UN Headquarters earlier in the day to commemorate the 9th International Day of Yoga, attended by UN officials, diplomats and prominent personalities.

He is on US visit from June 21-24 at the invitation of President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden.

PM Modi gifted a lab-grown 7.5-carat green diamond to US First Lady Dr Jill Biden. It is also eco-friendly, as eco-diversified resources like solar and wind power were used in its making.

PM Modi gifted US President Joe Biden:

1. A special sandalwood box handcrafted by a master craftsman from Jaipur was gifted by PM Modi to Joe Biden. The sandalwood sourced from Karnataka’s Mysuru has intricately carved flora and fauna patterns on it.
The box contained a silver idol of Ganesh, an oil lamp, a copper plate, and 10 silver boxes that contained symbols - Das Danam or the 10 donations.

2. A book titled ‘The Ten Principal Upanishads’
In 1937, Yeats published an English translation of the Indian Upanishads, co-authored with Shri Purohit Swami. The translation and collaboration between the two authors occurred throughout 1930s and it was one of the final works of Yeats.