Diplomacy

Australian PM serenades India, nuclear deal on the way

- by India Writes Network

In a milestone in their transforming ties, India and Australia are poised to sign a civil nuclear deal that will enable the import of Australian uranium to the energy deficient Asian economy. Australia’s Prime Minister Tony Abbott began his two-day trip from Mumbai, India’s commercial capital, and serenaded India’s growing global stature and its importance to Australia’s future. “The purpose of this trip, as far as I’m concerned, is to acknowledge the importance of India in the wider world, acknowledge the importance of India to Australia’s future,” said Abbot in a meeting with business leaders in Mumbai on September 4. “There is an abundance of opportunities here in India. I am determined to make the most of them,” he said on an upbeat note.

Abbott will make a pitch for enhanced trade and commercial partnership between Canberra and New Delhi. Currently, the trade volume between the two countries hovers around $15 billion which, experts say, is below potential. India also invests around $11 billion in Australia.

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China hopes to make President Xi’s visit a success

- by India Writes Network

It’s a competition India will welcome. With Japan unveiling a mammoth $35 billion package for infrastructural development in Asia’s third largest economy, China is also looking to raise the bar for its economic engagement with India during President Xi Jinping’s trip to Delhi later this month.

President Xi is expected to announce big-ticket investments when he comes here for his maiden visit to India around mid-September. “When President Xi visits India, you can expect a sense of camaraderie and the kind of friendship which will bring a complete change in the manner the two neighbors are engaged,” said Nirmala
Sitharaman, India’s Minister of State for Commerce and Industry September 2, after a day-long meeting with Chinese officials led by her Chinese counterpart Gao Hucheng. Sitharaman was speaking to Beijing-based Indian reporters after the India-China Joint Economic Group meeting.

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Tokyo Calling: Modi drums up India story, promise red carpet, not red tape

- by India Writes Network

No place like India to do business. Blend Japan’s hardware skills and India’s software to create everyday miracles. This is economic diplomacy, with a flourish. Literally, banging the drums in a symbolic “jugalbandi,” India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a charm offensive in Tokyo and told Japanese investors that red carpet, not red tape, awaits them if they come to India.

A day after his meeting with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the two nations launched a path-breaking investment partnership, Modi played the chief salesman and choreographer of the India Story.

“There is no other place more suited to you than India,” said Modi at a meeting organised by the Japan External Trade Organisation (Jetro) and Nikkei on September 2.

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Development, not expansionism, says Modi with China on mind

- by India Writes Network

In an oblique reference to perceived Chinese assertiveness in the region, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi cautioned against the tendency towards “expansionism”, and pitched for closer ties between India and Japan to help fructify a peaceful Asian century.

“We have to decide if we want to have ‘vikas vaad’ (development) or ‘vistar vaad’ (expansionism) which leads to disintegration,” said Modi while speaking to business titans of India and Japan in Tokyo.

“Those who follow the path of Buddha and have faith in ‘vikas vaad’, they develop. But we see, those having ideas of the 18th century, engage in encroachments and enter seas (of others),” said Modi on September 1, at a business luncheon with a delegation of Japan’s top industry leaders in Tokyo.

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