September 26
When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived at the Andrews Air Force Base at Maryland today for a record sixth bilateral summit with a US President, it was apparent that there was a sea change in the atmospherics from that prevalent at his first summit in 2005 with the then US President George Bush.

Then, Manmohan and Bush were regarded as bold and brave after they brokered the historic Indo-US civil nuclear energy deal that stunned the world and transformed relations between the world's largest democracy and the globe's most powerful.

Now when Manmohan meets President Barack Obama tomorrow at the White House over lunch, the PM's third summit with him in four years, both leaders appear tired and timid, as an expert put it, with relations between the two countries being variously described as "reaching a plateau" and a “case of missed opportunities”.

On the face of it, though relations appear in fine fettle and when he boarded Air India's special flight to the US, Manmohan Singh in a statement said, "Over the past decade, our relationship with the United States, which is one of the most important relationships, has transformed into a global strategic partnership." The Prime Minister added, "My visit is an opportunity to review our joint efforts and chart a course for our future cooperation."

Indeed, there is much to review. There is now a full spectrum relationship which spans issues such as trade and investment, defence, counter-terrorism, internal security, energy, environment, health, higher education, space, science and culture. There are currently 33 dialogue structures, including working groups, that meet regularly to take relations between the countries forward on these issues. There have been over 55 exchanges of visits this year, including high-profile visits by US Vice-President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry.

Yet the spark seems to be missing. "There is an absence of a big idea and the window of opportunity between the two countries is closing as domestic preoccupation and other international issues take precedence," remarked an expert on Indo-US relations.

Part of the reason has been the waning interest by US business houses in India particularly after the civil nuclear deal got locked in contentious legislation, including the controversial nuclear liability Bill passed by Indian Parliament that slowed progress.

The civil nuclear deal, which was once hailed by the two countries as the "symbol of our transformed relationship" and a "pillar of our strategic partnership", is an example of how the ardour between the two has cooled. With both countries going back on many of their commitments after eight years there is very little to show in terms of concrete outcomes.

After much negotiations, the Nuclear Power Corporation of India and Westinghouse, the US nuclear giant, are to sign the “Pre-early works” agreement for setting up nuclear reactors in Gujarat before the two heads of state meet. That would partially satisfy “the show-me-the-money” attitude that US business had after America invested plenty of political capital to pull India out of international nuclear isolation through the civil nuclear deal.

India has already benefited through the deal, which enabled it to import much needed nuclear fuel for its indigenously built reactors from other countries.

On its part, India points out that since the nuclear agreement of 2005, India has made purchases worth $9 billion from various US business entities in other sectors, including defence and aviation.

Also that India has recently addressed US concerns about the UPA government freezing the economic reform process by permitting FDI in multi-brand retail, insurance and aviation sectors in varying degrees in the past six months.

Manmohan's bilateral summit with Obama, likely to be his last with him in his second term, is an opportunity to put the momentum and meat back in India-US relations particularly with regard to economic relations.

While the US has business concerns with India, Manmohan is likely to take up issues such as the new immigration bill that specifically targets India's IT industry, co-production agreements on defence, greater cooperation on terrorism and intelligence sharing and ties up in clean technology.

There are global issues like Afghanistan, the situation in the Middle East and maritime security that he will also discuss with him.

National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon, who is accompanying the Prime Minister on the visit, says he remains a "confident, optimist" about relations between the two countries. In a speech at the Aspen India Institute in Delhi last week, he stated: "What were once considered breakthroughs in the relationship, are now regarded as routine and normal. This is a sign of maturity in the relationship, even if it robs it of some of the excitement of some years ago. We also face the reality that we must now deal with new challenges in the years ahead."

The onus is now on Manmohan and Obama to provide a fresh impetus when they meet tomorrow at The White House.