Washington, Sept. 23: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday is scheduled to have as many as eight meetings, including with Vice President Kamala Harris, on the first working day of his current US trip. Apart from meeting Harris at the White House, the Prime minister will also have two bilateral meetings with his Australian and Japanese counterparts — Scott Morrison and Yoshihide Suga. Modi arrived at Washington DC earlier today and was greeted by groups of Indian Americans at the airport. Later at the hotel, he had an interaction with the members of the community.

Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden has announced that the United States is doubling its purchase of Pfizer’s Covid-19 shots to share with the world to 1 billion doses as he embraces the goal of vaccinating 70 per cent of the global population within the next year. The stepped-up US commitment marks the cornerstone of the global vaccination summit Biden convened virtually on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, where he encouraged well-off nations to do more to get the coronavirus under control.-Agencies