The first event that the President will do will be a statement at the Taj Hotel where he's staying, to commemorate the Mumbai terrorist attacks. And, of course, India is a close counterterrorism partner of the United States.
India has shown remarkable resilience in responding to terrorism. And the Taj, where the President is staying, was, of course, a centerpiece of those attacks in Mumbai.
So the President wanted to take the time to pay his respects to the victims who lost their lives and to sign the guest book there, but also to make some brief remarks to an assembled group of people who are connected to those attacks.
From that event at the Taj Hotel he'll move on and he'll visit the Gandhi Museum. I think it's important to note here that obviously one of the things that the United States shares with India is they're the two world's largest democracies.
We believe that that's fundamental to our relationship; it makes it a qualitatively different relationship in the sense that we have shared interests and shared values.
And,of course, the example of Gandhi is one that has inspired Americans, inspired African Americans, including Dr King, and it's very personally important to the President. So we're looking forward to visiting the Gandhi Museum to underscore those shared experiences and shared values.
From there we're going to move on to a business summit that the US-India Business Council is putting together. We believe that India has a hugely dynamic and growing market and we want to discuss opportunities for how we can deepen our economic relationship.
The President will participate in three events at the business summit.
The first is a roundtable with entrepreneurs.
The second is a roundtable with some US CEOs where they'll be able to discuss the challenges and opportunities around doing business in India.
And then the President will deliver a speech to the business summit, so the speech the President will give that day is kind of the centerpiece of the day, again, focusing this day on the US/India economic relationship, the enormous potential for both countries to expand growth and opportunity for our people through that relationship.
Then we spend the night in Mumbai. The second day has a number of events that are focused on the future partnership that we're trying to build with India and how it's a relationship that we really believe is going to be indispensable to shaping the 21st century.
The President is going to begin the day by visiting a school in Mumbai, a local school. Diwali, of course, a pre-eminent Indian holiday, will be taking place during the President's visit, so he will visit a school and help -- participate in celebrations around the Diwali holiday that morning.
Then he'll go to a town hall with university students, and at that town hall he will, again, have the opportunity to talk about the future -- speaking to young people -- about the future partnership that we're trying to build as we take the US/India relationship to a new level.
On the margins of that town hall, we're going to have a couple of events -- roundtables -- that focus on particular areas of partnership that the US and India are pursuing.
One is on agriculture and food security. And the US and India -- India, of course, has had tremendous success in helping lift some of its people out of poverty through agricultural innovation. And our partnership with them has been strong in that respect.
And this is an opportunity to talk about that partnership, and also its potential to service our broader food security initiatives in places like Africa, as well as continuing to advance our bilateral cooperation with India.
Secondly, democracy -- I mentioned the close ties we have as the world's two largest democracies.
You heard the President speak at the UN General Assembly about his commitment to open government as a part of how we advance democracy around the world.
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