Diplomacy

Re-igniting India-US ties: Trump ‘looks forward’ to hosting Modi

- by India Writes Network

It promises to be the big-ticket diplomatic meeting of the year for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The dates are not out yet, but the White House has already struck an upbeat note, saying US President Donald Trump looks forward to hosting the Indian leader.
“President Trump has said he looks forward to hosting Prime Minister Modi in Washington later this year,” a White House statement said on March 29, following a telephonic conversation initiated by Mr Trump the day before to congratulate Mr Modi on the Bharatiya Janata Party’s sweeping victory in elections to legislatures in four Indian states, including the country’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh. “President Trump also expressed support for the Prime Minister’s economic reform agenda and emphasized his great respect for the people of India,” said the statement.
Although Mr Modi and Mr Trump may have a brief meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit of the world’s major and emerging economies in Germany in July this year, it will be the Indian prime minister’s first bilateral visit to the US after the change of guard in Washington in January this year.

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Trump Call after Modi’s Triumph in UP elections

- by India Writes Network

The success in recent state elections in India has bolstered the global profile of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with many world leaders, including US President Donald Trump congratulating the 66-year-old Indian leader. Mr Trump called up Mr Modi on March 27 and congratulated him on the Bharatiya Janata Party’s success in recent state elections, including the landslide victory in Uttar Pradesh, the Indian state whose population surpasses that of the combined population of Britain, France and Germany.
This was the third telephonic contact between the two leaders – the first two being soon after Trump’s US presidential poll victory in November last year and the second after his formal swearing-in in January this year.
Underlining India’s keenness to sustain the momentum in ties with the US built up during the presidency of George Bush and Barack Obama, India’s Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval made back-to-back visits to Washington.
Mr Trump and Mr Modi had last spoken to each other in January when they discussed the security situation in South and Central Asia. India and the United States will “stand shoulder to shoulder” to fight global terrorism, the White House had said after that interaction.

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Boost for India, UK parliament supports India on Gilgit-Baltistan

- by India Writes Network

In a vindication of India’s long-standing stance, Britain’s Parliament has adopted a resolution denouncing Pakistan’s move to declare Gilgit-Baltistan as its fifth province, and asserted that the region is a legal and constitutional part of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, illegally occupied by Pakistan since 1947.
Interestingly, the resolution also attacked the “forced and illegal construction” of the ambitious China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which passes through Gilgit-Baltistan, saying it further aggravated and interfered with the nature of the territory. The $51.5 billion corridor project aims at connecting Kashgar in China’s western province of Xinjiang with the port of Gwadar in Pakistani province of Balochistan. India has opposed the CPEC on grounds that the project, as it is conceived now, passes through the disputed territory in Kashmir, and hence amounts to impinging on the country’s sovereignty.
The motion, tabled on March 23 and sponsored by Conservative Party leader Bob Blackman, said that Pakistan, by making such a move, is implying its attempt to annex the already area.
The British parliament’s resolution assumes significance as it came after a committee in Pakistan, headed by Sartaj Aziz, the Foreign Affairs Advisor to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, had recommended that Gilgit-Baltistan region be declared the fifth province of Pakistan. Pakistan has four provinces – Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly North West Frontier Province).

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Needed a “new approach” to deal with N Korea: US

- by India Writes Network

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson reached Seoul on the second leg of a six-day sweep of Japan, South Korea and China, a nuclear hotspot gripped by high tensions following North Korea’s testing of missiles last week, on his first overseas visit since being appointed to the post.
As North Korea fired four missiles in quick succession, which splashed not far from the coast of Japan, the nuclear and military threat posed provoked the neighbouring countries to forge a plan on how best to confront a defiant Pyongyang and slow or halt its move to launch a nuclear strike.
North Korea’s military had launched an unprecedented 21 ballistic missiles in 2016 and set off two nuclear detonations. It has launched five missiles in the first 69 days of this year, making the region a potential nuclear flashpoint.
In both Tokyo and Seoul, the US top diplomat told the media that Washington is in search of a “new approach” for North Korea after what he described as two decades of failed efforts to denuclearize the country. In Tokyo on March 17, Mr Tillerson said two decades of diplomatic and other efforts, including a period when the US provided North Korea with $1.35 billion in assistance “to take a different pathway”, had come to nothing, an apparent dig at previous President Barrack Obama’s policy of “patience and engagement” with North Korea.
In China, Mr Tillerson is expected to convey to the Chinese leadership that the Donald Trump administration is keen on pursuing a constructive relationship with Beijing while remaining firm to ensure that China abides by international rules and that trade between the two countries is not eschewed in favour or disfavour of any side unfairly and conducted on a level playing field. He is also likely to sound out how China could give more opportunities for U.S. firms to export goods and services to that country.

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H-1B visa: US recognises importance of Indian IT professionals, says India

- by India Writes Network

Amid persisting concerns in India over the US suspension of the fast-tracking of H1B visa, India has made it clear that this is purely a business issue which should not be allowed to jeopardise huge opportunities in consolidating Indo-US economic partnership. India has also highlighted the US’ recognition of the contribution of the Indian IT professionals towards making the US economy competitive.
Clarifying India’s position, the external affairs ministry’s spokesman Gopal Bagley told the media in New Delhi on March 9 that “the presence of skilled Indian professionals is a positive for the US economy and particularly when the US seeks to build a stronger economy.”
“There are advantages in terms of backward linkages…..When we combine all this with our own government’s efforts for economic reforms and a high sustained economic growth, there is obviously a very important opportunity here for both countries to consolidate their economic partnership,” he said in response to a question.
The issue was taken up by India’s Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar when he held talks with US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in Washington last week and flagged New Delhi’s concerns. A few days later, however, the US announced the suspension of the premium processing of H 1B visa, in keeping with the Trump administration’s stand that its priority was ban on immigrants and not the visa.
In keeping with its “America first” slogan, the Trump administration, on assuming power, had reintroduced recently a Bill that prohibits companies from hiring H1-B employees if they employ more than 50 people and more than 50 per cent of their employees are H1-B and L-1 visa holders and encourages companies to recruit American workers.

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Jakarta Concord to boost Indian Ocean connect, focus on countering terror

- by India Writes Network

It’s better late than never. The 21-nation grouping straddling the strategically vital Indian Ocean stretching from South Africa to Australia and including India was set up two decades ago, but the first summit-level meeting of leaders of the countries was held in Jakarta only on March 7, 2017. By contrast, the Summits of leaders around the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean are commonplace. By all accounts, the IORA Summit was immensely productive. It came out with three documents—the Jakarta Concord, an action plan and a Declaration on countering violent extremism leading to terrorism.
The Declaration on Preventing and Countering Terrorism and Violent Extremism is important as it contains one of India’s prime concerns as articulated by Vice President Hamid Ansari, who headed the Indian delegation at the two-day Jakarta summit.
In a veiled allusion to China’s disputes over territorial waters with a number of Southeast Asian countries, Mr Ansari said there was an imperative need for open trade and open sea lanes that carry it and asked IORA member-states to ensure that the freedom of navigation and over-flight in the Indian Ocean is respected by all.
The document titled “Promoting Regional Cooperation for a Peaceful, Stable, and Prosperous Indian Ocean” aims to lay the foundation and set the course for cooperation for the organisation of Indian Ocean states in the next five years.

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