NEW DELHI: The government Wednesday said no formal invitation was sent to US President Donald Trump to visit India in January.
Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh stated this while replying to a question in the Lok Sabha on whether the government invited the US president to visit India in January.
In October, a White House official said Trump was unable to participate as Chief Guest of India's Republic Day celebrations in January due to scheduling constraints.
"The India-US joint statement issued on June 27, 2017 states, 'President Trump gladly accepted Prime Minister Modi's invitation to visit India'. No formal invitation has been sent to the US President to visit India in January 2019," Singh said in the written reply.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had invited Trump to visit India during their talks in Washington in June 2017.