India and the World

A date with Masdar: Smart zero-carbon city in UAE inspires Modi

- by India Writes Network

Clean and Green – this new focus on smart living and sustainable urban space, found affirmation in India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s maiden visit to the world’s zero carbon smart city in the UAE. Mr Modi, who has unfurled the dream of 100 smart cities in India, looked visibly impressed as he took a ride in a self-driven car that runs on solar powered batteries in Masdar, a 5.95 sq km strip located 17 km southeast of Abu Dhabi international airport.

Mr Modi discussed urban development and next generation urban spaces with United Arab Emirates officials on August 17. He was also briefed on Masdar city’s Private Rapid Transport System. Impressed with the city, Mr Modi wrote ‘Science is Life’ in the visitor’s book at Masdar city.

Masdar city project aims to turn Abu Dhabi into an international hub for renewable energy and to support the development and commercialisation of sustainable technology. The smart city concept is a key agenda of Mr Modi’s development plans. Masdar was meant to be an incubator for a new generation of Emirati green start-ups with an aim to garner investments in green energy and technology. This, in the long run, would earn Abu Dhabi significant revenue if its oil runs out. But due to the global financial crisis in 2008, Dubai’s state-owned investment company ran up a debt of USD 59 billion that left Abu Dhabi with little to invest in Masdar city.

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Modi’s Gulf diplomacy: India, UAE join hands to combat Islamic State

- by India Writes Network

Against the backdrop of the emergence of the Islamic State as the top security threat to the region, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for intensifying counter-terror cooperation with the United Arab Emirates, the first Gulf country he has visited after taking charge in May last year.

As Mr Modi arrived in the UAE on a two-day visit on August 16, the first visit by an Indian prime minister to the Gulf dynamo in 34 years, he was accorded a grand welcome and was received by none other than the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and his five brothers.

Speaking about the agenda of his visit, Mr Modi said in an in an interview to Khaleej Times that he wanted to see the UAE as India’s top partner in trade and counter-terrorism, while noting that both countries had a range of common security and strategic concerns in the region including extremism. “We have a range of common security and strategic concerns in the region, including terrorism and extremism. So India and UAE have everything to be a top priority for each other. This is the way I look at the UAE. The Gulf region is vital for India’s economic, energy and security interests,” he said.

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India’s outreach to Pacific Islands: Making a difference

- by India Writes Network

India is set to host a summit with leaders from 14 members of the Pacific Islands Forum (FIPIC) in Jaipur on August 21, which is expected to be attended by 10 heads of state/government from the PIF members. The initiative has the potential to revitalise India’s relations with these countries, as expressed during the summit meeting held during the visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Fiji in November 2014. Though these countries are relatively small, and distant from India, there are several areas for fruitful cooperation.
There are certain issues that need attention. Implementation of projects offered by India should be improved by appropriate reforms in project management and financial approval processes. Indian diplomatic representation is weak and many of the PIF members are covered by non-resident Indian missions which are not able to make frequent visits. One approach could be to have in addition, Special Envoys from India for promoting bilateral relations with these countries. These could provide advocacy and give a push to cooperation.

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Why PM Modi’s visit to UAE matters: Bridging the Gulf

- by India Writes Network

The 27th sojourn by Prime Minister Narendra Modi outside the country to United Arab Emirates August on 16-17 is significant and remarkable not only because he is the first prime minister to go to this country after Indira Gandhi’s visit 34 years ago. Nor also because he is visiting a country which contributes about 15% of the total inward remittances (USD 15.7 billion out of a total of USD 69 billion received by India from all over the world in 2014-15). Nor even for the fact that Indians constitute about 30% of the total population (2.6 million out of a total population that is a shade above 9 million, less than half the population of Delhi). The visit is exceptional because this will be the first visit by Prime Minister Modi to West Asia, to a Muslim country and to a Gulf Arab country. This is one region that Mr Modi has not visited so far, although he has straddled across hemispheres over the last 14 months of his tenure.

PM Modi’s choice of UAE to be the first country of his visit in the energy-rich but troubled region is as compelling and momentous as was his choice of Bhutan to be the country for his first bilateral visit after assuming power. PM Modi is giving the same importance to UAE as he gave to India’s neighbours like Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh by making this a single country tour and not combining it with other countries. This also sends out a clear message that UAE occupies the same importance and relevance in India’s foreign policy matrix as its immediate neighbours.

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India-Iran ties set to fly high: Energy partnership, enhanced trade on agenda

- by Manish Chand

India’s multi-faceted ties with Iran are set to move into a higher trajectory, with a spate of significant outcomes emerging from Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif’s day-long visit to New Delhi. The proposals firmed up during the visit will scale up economic ties and transform the buyer-seller relationship to a genuine energy partnership.

Indian private investors got a shot in the arm with Mr Zarif announcing in New Delhi that Iran is open to Indian private companies investing in the Chabahar Port. Mr Zarif is on his first visit to India after the historic nuclear deal struck between Iran and the P5+1 member countries last month.

“Both India and Iran are eager to engage in this. I believe we will soon start serious work,” Mr Zarif said in New Delhi, adding that the two countries already have an agreement in place. The deal to develop the Chabahar Port was signed between India and Iran in May 2015.

India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj met her Iranian counterpart and discussed a host of “forward-looking proposals” that are set the stage for accelerating bilateral relations across the spectrum, which suffered due to a spate of Western sanctions imposed on Tehran to curtail its nuclear programme suspected of developing atomic weapons.

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Kerry intones song of India, lauds resilient democracy, innovation

- by India Writes Network

It’s a cheering and uplifting tribute from the US to the power of India in the world. In an Independence Day message to India on the eve of its 69th Independence Day, US Secretary of State John Kerry has underlined the ethos of India and what it represents in an evolving world order. “Since 1947, India has stood as a beacon for the world, as an economic power that prides innovation, as a resilient democracy in the face of terror and as a strategic power that upholds international norms.”

“As the world’s largest democracies, the US and India stand side by side in defending and promoting the freedoms and values we hold,” said Mr Kerry, in a message on behalf of US President Barack Obama.

“As was highlighted during President Obama’s visit for India’s Republic Day in January, the US takes pride in our indispensable partnership with India, a friendship built on our shared democratic values, the entrepreneurial spirit of our people, and our shared interests,” said the US diplomat, a robust backer of stronger India-US relations and an ardent supporter of the India-US nuclear rapprochement.

Alluding to the enduring legacy of India’s iconic figures associated with the freedom movement, Mr Kerry said that these leaders contributed to establishing a united, inclusive republic and inspired leaders from across the globe.

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Sri Lanka polls: Tough choices and the way ahead

- by N Sathiya Moorthy

Come Monday, 17 August, and Sri Lanka would have gone to nation-wide elections for the second time in eight months. The result will determine if the January 8 presidential poll was a freak, or heralded a “change of political culture,” as claimed by the victorious combine at the time.

That combination of present-day President Maithripala Sirisena, the beneficiary of the January poll, and his Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was among his benefactors at the time, could continue toddling along, in the name of ‘good governance’, their two-word passport to power at the time. Any reversal of the electoral fate for the unpredictable combine could usher in more unpredictability, what with President Sirisena declaring that post-poll, he would not invite his predecessor and fellow-party man, Percy Mahinda Rajapaksa, to become prime minister in Ranil’s place.

Therein is a hitch. The diluted 19th Amendment to the Constitution that the present duo piloted and passed through the Parliament, in which they did not command a majority, is clear that the President can invite only the leader of the single largest party or group to form a government – as is the case with any parliamentary democracy. Diluting, if not outright removing the powers of the ‘Executive President’ as promised by the duo, 19-A, has also taken away Sirisena’s powers to dissolve Parliament at the end of one year.

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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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