NEW DELHI: Buoyed by President Donald Trump’s gushing praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the recent APEC summit in Vietnam, Indian diplomats are hoping for a rich outcome when the two leaders meet in Manila on the sidelines of the Asean summit on Monday.

It would be their first meeting since President Trump announced his new South Asia policy, which has irked Pakistan and pleased India and Afghanistan.

Mr Trump, who has coined the geographical stretch “Indo-Pacific” to include India told APEC leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, that India was celebrating the 70th anniversary of its independence as a sovereign democracy with a population of 1.3 billion.

“Since India opened its economy, it has achieved astounding growth and a new world of opportunities for its expanding middle class,” President Trump had said.

“And Prime Minister Modi has been working to bring that vast country and all of its people as one. And he has been working at it very successfully indeed,” Mr Trump said.

Mr Modi is leaving for the Philippines on Sunday to attend the India-Asean and East Asia summits. President Trump is also scheduled to attend the East Asia Summit, a key meeting between Asean and eight of its partners.

Local reports said the two would meet at Sofitel Philippine Plaza hotel on the Manila Bay for a 45-minute bilateral.

Mr Modi is also scheduled to have bilateral meetings with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe to complete a quadrilateral group the four countries plan to set up to counter China.

So, while the first quadrilateral meeting will be held at the official level (joint secretaries/directors general/ assistant secretary) between India, US, Japan and Australia, Mr Modi will meet leaders from all three countries — Messrs Trump, Abe and Turnbull — separately.

“The idea is to generate a sense of solidarity among the quadrilateral leaders. The idea of a leaders-level meeting was knocked off keeping in mind Beijing’s concerns, but it was considered important that they should meet each other to convey their views separately,” a source told The Indian Express.

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2015