IndiaUS

India, US open a new bright chapter: Focus on knowledge partnership, security cooperation

- by Manish Chand

India and the US, the world’s oldest and most populous democracies, have put the recent past of drift and plateauing behind to open a new bright chapter in their relationship by launching a new investment initiative to multiply their trade five-fold, enhancing security cooperation and expanding the global compass of their strategic partnership from Afghanistan to Africa.
Piercing through the thicket of diplomatic clichés, the US pitched itself as a lead partner in India’s quest for smart cities and world class infrastructure.
India’s Prime Minister Narandra Modi and US President Barack Obama held all-encompassing talks for more than an hour and a half in Washington DC September 30, with the US shedding its ambivalence and pledging unstinting support for “India’s rise as a responsible, influential world power.”
The big takeaway from the first summit meeting between the leaders of the world’s largest democracies was the forceful assertion on the part of the two leaders to leave the recent past of drifting firmly behind and forge a more vibrant and enduring partnership pivoted around a transformative knowledge partnership and deploying cutting-edge technologies to address all-too-real problems facing millions of people cutting across the rural-urban divide.

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Scripting anew: Obama, Modi co-author vision article on India-US ties in US daily

- by Manish Chand

Chalein Saath, Saath: forward we go together.” This emerging India-US bonding, with its promise of working together on a host of bilateral and global issues, will be reflected in a joint op-ed article co-authored by US President Barack Obama and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The article, which was approved only hours before the two leaders sat down for an informal dinner at the White House, will be published in a leading American daily, likely to be the Washington Post.

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Khem Cho: Modi, Obama have warm-up dinner, with world on the plate

- by Manish Chand

Khem Cho, Mr Prime Minister! The Gujarati greeting by US President Barack Obama brought a little smile to India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he stepped inside the White House for his first meeting with the world’s most powerful man. For the next 90 minutes, the two leaders sat down for a free-flowing conversation that encompassed big issues as well as small talk. It was literally a warm-up dinner, albeit with a difference -– the fasting Indian prime minister sipped warm water while his host, accompanied by his senior cabinet colleagues, had their dinner.

Sparks did not exactly fly or the two leaders went down for a private walk on the White House lawns. Clearly, the bells and whistles were missing – the kind the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh got when Mr Obama hosted the first state dinner of his presidency. However, in the end, the first Obama-Modi meeting proved to be a fairly meaty mouthful before the full-course talks on September 30, which are expected to add a fresh sparkle to the much-touted defining partnership of the 21st century. The tone and substance of the initial interaction could be best summed up in the words –- “Chalein Saath Saath, forward together we go” –- the vision statement for the US-India Strategic Partnership that was issued ahead of the private dinner hosted by Mr Obama for his Indian guest.

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