India on Friday said it is working with the US on an "early" visit to Washington by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to further deepen the comprehensive global strategic partnership between the two countries.
Following a phone conversation with Modi this week, US President Donald Trump said the Indian prime minister "is going to be coming to the White House, over next month, probably February".
It would be Modi's first bilateral visit to Washington after Trump became US president for a second term.
While confirming discussions between India and the US on the proposed visit, external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal did not mention any possible time-line for the trip.
In their phone conversation on January 27, Modi and Trump vowed to work towards a "trusted" partnership with a focus on boosting India-US cooperation in areas of trade, energy and defence.
"PM Modi and President Trump had a telephone conversation recently. The two sides are working on an early visit of the PM to the US to further deepen India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership," Jaiswal said at his weekly media briefing while replying to a question.
"Specific dates for the visit would be announced at the appropriate time," he said.
It is learnt that both sides were initially looking at the window between February 12-14 for Modi's visit but there has been no finality on it yet.
The prime minister is set to travel to Paris to attend the Artificial Intelligence Action summit on February 10 and 11. Though the US president has also been invited to the summit, his participation is not yet confirmed.
If Modi's visit takes place in February, then he will be among very few leaders to travel to Washington on a bilateral visit within weeks after the Trump administration came to power for the second term.
Like in many countries, there have been some concerns in India as well over the US President's approach on immigration and tariff.
He has already talked about slapping "100 percent tariffs" on the BRICS grouping, a bloc that includes India too.
"India is firmly opposed to illegal migration, especially as it is also linked to other forms of organised crime," Jaiswal said.
"As part of India-US cooperation on migration and mobility, both sides are engaged in a process to deter illegal migration, while also creating more avenues for legal migration from India to the US," he said.
Jaiswal said India is keen to continue this cooperation.
"At the same time, the government of India would need to do the required verification, including nationality, of the concerned individuals, before they are deported to India," he said.
"Any talk of numbers at this stage is premature. But I do want to emphasize that cooperation between India and the US is strong and effective in this domain. This will be evident in times to come," Jaiswal added.
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