Hurricane Katrina has evidently necessitated a meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United States President George Bush on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly, which will convene next week in New York, a senior diplomat in the ministry of external affairs told rediff.com.
According to him, Dr Singh and President Bush were originally not expected to have a one-on-one meeting but "in the last 48 hours circumstances have changed."
For the past few years, especiall since the post-Cold War relations with India entered the fast lane, US presidents have been meeting Indian prime ministers at the annual UN assembly.
Before Hurricane Katrina happened, MEA sources had told rediff.com that "since Dr Singh met President Bush last July, not much has changed since that meeting, another one is not necessary. They are doing their homework and we are doing ours."
However, the date and venue of the Bush-Singh meeting is likely to be announced in the next two days.