Congressional Statements

31 Congresspersons request Vajpayee be invited to speak at Joint Session of Congress

Letter to Congressional Leaders
July 19, 2000

The Honorable Trent Lott
Senate Majority Leader

The Honorable J. Dennis Hastort
Speaker of the House

The Honorable Thomas Daschle
Senate Minority Leader

The Honorable Richard Gephardt
House Minority Leader

Dear Messrs:

We are writing to request that you invite the Prime Minister of India, Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, to address a Joint Session of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives when he is in Washington, D.C. this fall. He will conduct his historic visit to our nation's capital from September 14 through 17, 2000.

We believe that an invitation to the Prime Minister to address a joint meeting of Congress will afford members of Congress, as well as the American people, the opportunity to hear his views first hand. Furthermore, this will provide members a unique chance to discuss a wide range of issues which are of great importance to the U.S. - India bilateral relationship. The United States and India share many important concerns including trade, energy, investment, science and technology, and our cooperative efforts to combat terrorism. By improving communications between the United States and India, we can begin to move towards our goal of achieving regional peace and security in South Asia, a region of prime importance to our national interests.

As you may know, while the President was in India this past March he addressed the joint session of the Indian Parliament. We are hopeful that the United States Congress will return the honor, so that in this new century, the United States and India will strengthen the bonds of friendship between the people of the world's two largest democracies.

Sincerely,