|
|
|
|
|
Modi, Obama to reset Indo-US ties After a successful visit to New York, where he made a splash both on the global stage and then wowed local audiences, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is heading to Washington DC for a crucial summit with US President Barack Obama. The task for the two leaders would be to give a boost to bilateral relations that in recent years have “atrophied”, as Frank Wisner, former US ambassador to India, bluntly puts it. The world’s largest democracy and the globe’s most powerful are clearly out of sync with each other and as an official joked, “it would need more than yoga to bring the mojo back into the relations”. The Indian Prime Minister will first sup with Obama and his wife, Michelle, at the White House, at a private dinner being hosted by them in his honour before the formal bilateral meeting is held on Tuesday. With Modi observing a fast during the Navratra period, his meal would be liquid and frugal. The occasion though gives the two leaders a chance to bond with each other and see how they could work towards putting the relations on a more solid footing. Before he departed from New York, Modi had an important breakfast meet with top American CEOs and followed it with individual sessions with head honchos of Boeing, Blackrock, the IBM, General Electric, Goldman Sachs and the KKR. The business leaders spelt out a whole range of concerns, including lack of consistency and continuity in government economic and trade policies, no sanctity over Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) issues and damaging retroactive taxation. Modi elaborated on his “Come, make in India” mission and assured them he would pull out all stops to facilitate ease of business. It is not just business though where the debilitating drift has to be corrected by both Modi and Obama. On the surface, the two countries have never been more engaged with each other as now. There are currently over 30 different official level dialogues going between the two countries on subjects ranging from climate change to cyber security, defence to development and immigration to international order. But as Wisner put it: “There is a huge gap between promise and delivery. Both sides are at fault. Modi and Obama will have to sit down and bridge it.” On the plus side is that the decisive mandate of the 2014 General Election and Modi’s business-friendly approach has generated plenty of positivity among key circles of power in the US. The raising of the FDI limits in defence and an insurance from 26 per cent to 49 per cent has signaled that the Indian Prime Minister is willing to walk the talk. But concerns have been raised after India blocked the Trade Facilitation Agreement when the WTO met recently. Ronen Sen, the former Indian ambassador to US whose tenure saw the signing of the landmark Indo-US nuclear deal, lists "Four Cs" that the two leaders could focus on to bring the excitement back into the relations: Clarity, Consistency, Commitment and Credibility. Sen should know the Indo-US relations had reached a peak in 2008 following the signing of the nuclear deal which ended Delhi’s pariah status by lifting international ban on export of nuclear fuel and technology to India. In doing so, US expended humungous amounts of political capital to persuade not only its own legislators but other countries to follow suit. Relations, however, went downhill from 2010 onwards when India passed a stifling nuclear liability law that made it too costly for American nuclear giants to do business with India. US disappointment heightened when the Indian Air Force chose the France’s Rafale jet fighter over US F-16s for the mega Rs 82,000 crore deal to purchase 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA). What hurt most was that instead of being briefed as to why the US offer was not good enough, a routine letter from an undersecretary in the Ministry of Defence was reportedly sent informing them of the decision. With the CAG and the Supreme Court coming out on the 2G spectrum deals and the government imposing retroactive taxes, particularly on Vodafone, US businessmen and investors were spooked. As one of them said, “We were disconcerted by the cavalier manner with which the previous government handled issues during the end of its tenure. It clobbered us on several fronts.” India has several grouses too, including the US’ plans to pass a stringent immigration law that discriminates against India’s giant IT companies who had propelled much of the trade between the two countries in recent years. Trade between the two countries stood at $ 96.7 billion in 2013. The new law, if passed, will compel US corporations, who outsource much of their back office operations to Indian IT companies, to ensure that between 50 and 75 per cent of their workforce is local or face a ban. Also while Obama talks of "India being the defining partner for the US in this century”, India has found a lack of strategic clarity from US officials while dealing with key global issues concerning India, including on Pakistan, Afghanistan and China. Experts see four major areas that could be pacesetters for the formal summit between Modi and Obama on the morning of September 30: Top on the list is defence. With the US offering a host of co-production deals, including one for the Javelin anti-tank missile that is in consonance with Modi's "make in India" vision, these could be put on the fast-track. With India seeking US investment in its infrastructure plans, including for the proposed smart cities, the two leaders could set a deadline to conclude the pending Bilateral Investment Treaty and also address each other’s concerns about IPR and immigration issues. Another key area could be in energy, particularly clean energy, where major collaborative efforts could be identified and pursued to enhance India's energy security. Rather than platitudes, the two countries should sit down and understand each other's strategic interests and work towards ironing out or minimising differences. These and other measures could go a long way in fulfilling what Obama terms as “the extra-ordinary promise of the Indo-US strategic partnership”. ‘Four Cs’ that can bring back excitement
Ties downhill since 2010
Areas that could be pacesetters Experts see four major areas that could be pacesetters for the formal summit between Modi and Obama:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | E-mail | |
Relations between the two countries went downhill 2010 onwards when India passed a stifling nuclear liability law that made it too costly for American nuclear giants to do business with India
Top on the list is defence. With US offering a host of co-production deals, including one for the Javelin anti-tank missile that is in consonance with Modi’s ‘make in India’ vision, these could be put on the fast-track