on the Kashmir issue at the UN Security Council where China has repeatedly tried to raise the matter.

The American president calls Prime Minister Modi a good friend, and they have indeed struck a rapport, as has been affirmed by officials on both sides.

The joint appearance of Trump and Modi at the Howdy Modi outreach to the Indian diaspora in September is often cited as an example of the chemistry shared by the two leaders.

The frequency of their meeting and interactions — they have met three times in the last six months, and spoken multiple times on phone — is the other pointer.

In an election rally in October 2016, candidate Trump said India and the United States would be “best friends” and “no relationship would be more important” ifreviewed, and were revised at the 2007 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, allowing the admission of Rwanda at the 2009 Meeting.

History

Founding documents

The formation of the Commonwealth of Nations is dated back to the Statute of Westminster, an Act of the British Parliament passed on 11 December 1931.  The Statute established the independence of the Dominions, creating a group of equal members where, previously, there was one (the United Kingdom) paramount.  The solitary condition of membership of the embryonic Commonwealth was that a state be a Dominion.  Thus, the independence of Pakistan (1947), India (1947), and the Dominion of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) (1948) saw the three countries join the Commonwealth as independent states that retained the King as head of state. On the other hand,