Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been invited to address a joint meeting of both houses of the United States Congress on June 8. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan made the announcement on Thursday at his weekly news conference.

"The friendship between the United States and India is a pillar of stability in an important region of the world," Ryan said, as reported by PTI. "This address presents a special opportunity to hear from the elected leader of the world's most populous democracy on how our two nations can work together to promote our shared values and to increase prosperity," he added.

Modi will be the fifth Indian prime minister to address the joint meeting of the US Congress, after Rajiv Gandhi, PV Narasimha Rao, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh. This will also be Modi's fourth trip to the US in three years – he was last in the country for the nuclear summit earlier this month.