Former president Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he is meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi when Mr Modi visits the US next week.
Mr Modi is scheduled to be in the United States this weekend, along with the leaders of Australia and Japan, for a summit of the so-called Quad hosted by President Joe Biden in his Wilmington hometown in Delaware.
The group is formally called the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, and it began as a partnership after the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
The popular and polarising Indian prime minister has advanced Hindu nationalism in his decade-long tenure.
The meeting between Mr Modi and Mr Trump had not been previously reported.
The Republican presidential nominee referenced it for the first time while speaking at an unrelated event in Michigan.
Earlier this year, Mr Trump met with other foreign leaders, including Hungary’s nationalist prime minister Viktor Orban, whom he regularly mentions in speeches.
He also met with Polish President Andrzej Duda, who once proposed naming a military base in his country Fort Trump.
Mr Trump has also met with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron.
Foreign leaders have argued that meetings with Mr Trump are part of standard encounters they have with opposition figures.
The Indian embassy in Washington did not respond to the Associated Press’ request for comment on Tuesday night.
