Diplomacy

Ahead of Modi visit, India, US set to hold maiden Strategic and Commercial Dialogue

- by India Writes Network

Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US in September, Washington DC is all set to host the first ever India-US Strategic and Commercial Dialogue (SACD). According to Stefan M Selig, US Undersecretary for International Trade, Department of Commerce, it is scheduled to be held in September. This will be the first ever high level strategic and commercial dialogue between the world’s leading democracies and close strategic partners. With the intent to boost trade and investment five-fold to $500 billion annually, the meet would focus on areas such as ease of doing business and smart cities. Mr Selig is in India to meet Commerce secretary Rita Teaotia to discuss the details about the high level dialogue.

“The dialogue will have four pillars: ease of doing business, innovation and entrepreneurship, smart cities project in India and the harmonisation of standards to increase bilateral trade,” Mr Selig said at the press conference in the Indian capital. Mr Selig also added that he is due to meet Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman shortly to discuss about joint preparations for the upcoming dialogue.

The SACD is expected to be held days before Mr Modi goes on his second visit to the US to attend the United Nations General Assembly in the last week of September. He is also expected to engage US President Barack Obama in bilateral talks on the sidelines of the UNGA in New York.

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Iran’s Foreign Minister to target India opportunity

- by India Writes Network

A month after Tehran struck a historic nuclear deal with the world’s major powers, Foreign Minister Javad Zarif will be in New Delhi for a day-long visit that signals Iran’s intent to scale up economic and energy ties with one of its key partners in Asia.

The suave Zarif, Tehran’s key interlocutor in the P5+1 nuclear deal and a trusted aide of President Hassan Rouhani, will be in India on August 14 to explore new opportunities that will flow from the expected lifting of Western sanctions on Iran by the end of the year.

The India trip is part of Mr Zarif’s regional visit. He will visit Pakistan on August 13 and is scheduled to meet the Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Foreign Affairs advisor Sartaj Aziz. He has been visiting many countries after the nuclear deal, especially in West Asia.

Mr Zarif is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari. The main focus during his visit would be on discussing increasing Indian imports of Iranian oil and boosting trade. India is one of the largest importers of Iranian oil in Asia, which is expected to rise substantially after the lifting of sanctions. Prior to the imposition of Western sanctions, Iran was the second largest supplier of India’s crude.

The Iranian foreign minister is expected to update the Indian leadership on the nitty-gritty of the nuclear deal and map out a plan for re-energizing India-Iran relations in a host of areas, including trade and investment, energy partnership and strategic areas like the prospects of cooperation amid unfolding transition in Afghanistan. India’s ongoing assistance for building the Chabahar port that will open direct access to Central Asia is also expected to come up for review.

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Indian Soft Power: Modi strategy and home truths

- by India Writes Network

There is a lot of hype regarding Prime Minister Modi’s innovative and constructive approach to India’s foreign policy. Some have gone so far as to say Indian foreign policy has undergone a revolution under the Modi administration. While it is contentious whether there are more elements of change or continuity, a change is certainly being implemented with regard to India’s soft power that is being methodically and strategically deployed like never before.

Joseph Nye originally coined the term “soft power” in the late 1980s, which he describes as “the ability to get what you want through attraction rather than coercion, resulting in a more favourable public opinion and credibility abroad”. It has been emphasized by author Shashi Tharoor, also a former junior minister of external affairs, who states that “the associations and attitudes conjured up in the global imagination by the mere mention of a country’s name is often a more accurate gauge of its soft power than a dispassionate analysis of its foreign policies”. The events of the previous decade have espoused the limitations of the use of force, leading to a subsequent resurgence in the importance of soft power as a foreign policy tool.

The concept of soft power is not new to India. India’s Non-alignment Movement (NAM) developed in the explicit historical situation of India’s independence struggle and was an embodiment of the values and ideals, such as the Gandhian nonviolent legacy, that influenced it. Independent India’s elites attempted to pursue a leadership role for India based on its ideological soft power and diplomacy. Indeed, India’s first Prime Minister Nehru was a proponent of soft power and carved an international role for India based on its moral standing and its support of the developing world, thus attempting to play a normative role in international relations.

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Obama’s clean power strategy: Lessons for India

- by India Writes Network

On August 3, US President Barack Obama launched the enhanced version of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s original proposed Clean Power Programme. This sets ambitious targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and pollution from the US power sector. The plan has many features that could be of interest to India, and perhaps even more relevant.

The basic features of Obama’s plan may be summarised as follows – (1) New national carbon pollution standards for the first time for power plants, aimed at cutting carbon and particulate emissions (2) Reduction (over 2005 levels) from the power sector of oxides of Carbon (32 percent), Sulphur (90 percent) and Nitrogen (72 percent) (3) Transition to cleaner sources of energy, especially to renewable energy. The projected economic benefits of the plan are climate-related benefits ($20 billion), health related benefits ( $14-34 billion), and avoiding each year 3600 deaths, 1700 heart attacks, 90,000 asthma attacks and loss of 300,000 work and school days due to illness.

The plan is based on: (1) Close partnerships between the Federal government and state governments (2) Separate standards for coal/oil and natural gas based plants (3) State-level targets in terms of CO2 per kilowatt hour (kWH) of power, and total CO2 emissions. (4) State-level incentives for clean and renewable energy (5) Flexible mechanisms for implementing plans. These targets are to be met singly or in combination with other states (including through emissions trading etc.) during 2022-2029. The mechanisms offer flexibility to the States which are required to submit final plans by September 2016.

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Charming Dubai: UAE awaits Modi the performer

- by India Writes Network

Barely a day after unfurling the tricolour at the majestic Red Fort in New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will fly down to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for his first visit to the energy-rich and enterprising Gulf region, home to the 7-million strong Indian diaspora. Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the two cities Mr Modi will visit on August 16 and 17, are looking to roll out the red carpet for Mr Modi, who will become the first Indian prime minister to visit the country in 34 years after Indira Gandhi.

The focus will be on intensifying economic ties across the spectrum, but the show-stealer will be clearly the grand public event at Dubai International Cricket Stadium, where around 40,000 people, mostly Indians, will be all eyes and ears to see and hear the man who has carved a reputation for himself as a stage performer. In an act reminiscent of Madison Square Avenue panache, PM Modi is expected to enthrall them with his inspiring rhetoric, exhorting them to contribute their bit to the resurgence to the motherland.

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