Washington, Jun 7 (UNI) Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with US President Barrack Obama today, US Deputy National Security Adviser Benjamin Rhodes said India by becoming the member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group(NSG) would be in a stronger position to be a "good citizen’’ when it comes to the issue of proliferation. India’s bid for NSG membership is one of the main issues that is expected to figure in the discussion between the two leaders. Mr Modi, who visited Switzerland before the US, had also obtained the backing of the country for its entry into the elite club. "After having gone down the path of the civil nuclear agreement with India, the US had invested a significant amount of time in building up our nuclear cooperation with the country relating to nuclear security,’’ Mr Rhodes responded when asked why some countries like China were against India’s membership of the NSG. Mr Rhodes was of the view that engaging India and bringing it into the international processes would help in promoting the nuclear security protocols. "I think the bottom line for us is that we believe that through engagement with India and through engagement with groups like the NSG, we are in a better position to support India as a good citizen on these issues,’’ he said. Meanwhile, today’s will be the third bilateral meeting of Mr Modi with Mr Obama on his fourth visit to the US since he assumed power two years ago. This is the last year of Mr Obama’s presidency too. Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister interacted with American think tanks on a wide range of issues and spectrum of opinion as he began the forth leg of his visit by paying homage to the unknown martyred soldiers, thus becoming the third Indian Prime Minister to visit the memorial after Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi. The Prime Minister also visited Columbia Space shuttle memorial to pay tribute to Kalpana Chawla, an astronaut of Indian origin, who perished along with her six crew-mates on February 1, 2003, over Texas as Columbia was re-entering Earth's atmosphere en route a landing at Kennedy Space Center. He participated in the ceremony where a number of cultural artifacts illegally taken from India, were handed over back to Indians. UNI XC NAZ SW SB 1941