Defying the sceptics’ chant about the India-US relations plateauing and slipping into a lacklustre phase, the two countries are poised for wide-ranging discussions, which seek to revitalise their strategic and economic engagement amid their pressing domestic preoccupations.
More than two months after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President Barack Obama met in the White House, India’s Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh will be engaging her counterpart Wendy Sherman and a host of senior US officials in Washington in a stock-taking exercise, which is also expected to map out the course of bilateral relations over the next few months.
T
he focus will be on swifter implementation of key outcomes of the September 27 talks between the leaders of the world’s two leading democracies. Reviewing the progress in implementing the landmark nuclear deal will be high on the agenda. Building on a preliminary commercial agreement between the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited and Westinghouse Electric Company sealed in September, things are finally moving, with a team from Westinghouse expected to be in India shortly.
The two sides will also be looking to refurbish their economic relations which have tended to get embroiled in mutual gripes. On the economic front, the situation is looking up for India with the current account deficit shrinking and the government going ahead with some key economic reforms. This is markedly different from the September visit of Manmohan Singh to the US when the US trade and business lobbies were seething with economic grievances against India. That sense of mounting frustration has incrementally given way to a realistic appreciation of New Delhi’s limitations in view of the elections next year and guarded optimism about the course of economic reforms in India in the long run. “Relations between India and the United States have never been stronger,” says India’s charge d’affaires in Washington, Taranjit Singh Sandhu. “Deepening of India-US economic partnership anchors India’s strong relationship with the United States,” he stresses.
Afghanistan Connect
The talks in Washington next week will not be just confined to bilateral issues; there will be an entire cluster of regional and global issues on the table which would require more focused consultations and closer India-US cooperation in days to come. The situation in Afghanistan and the trajectory of Afghanistan’s prospects in the transformational decade (1914-2025) will come up for intensive discussions when Singh meets US’ special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan James Dobbins. India is expected to air its concerns about some aspects of the bilateral security agreement the US is negotiating with Afghanistan.
The discussions on Afghanistan, barely days before Afghan President Hamid Karzai comes to New Delhi, will be crucial given India’s enormous stakes in peace and stability of the neighbouring country and its apprehensions that the so-called reconciliation process could be manipulated by Pakistan to install an Islamabad-friendly regime in Kabul. In the run-up to the 2014 transition, India and the US will be engaging closely as they get ready for another round of trilateral discussions with Afghanistan early next year.
In the military domain, the two countries are taking defining steps to incrementally transform their defence partnership from buyer-seller relationship to co-production, joint research and co-development.
Mapping the ‘new normal’ future
Contrary to headline-writers’ plaint about the lack of big ideas framing the India-US ties, the two countries are making renewed efforts to keep the spark alive. The “new normal” in bilateral relations may not have the adrenalin high of a budding romance, but has settled into familial comforts of frequent consultations and even occasional cavilling. The focus is now on issues that tangibly impact the well-being and security of ordinary people. The free-wheeling discussions between senior police officials of the two countries recently in New Delhi, the first such exercise, was refreshing and showed the possibilities of forging a functional people-centric relationship.
Looking ahead, despite domestic distractions, the two countries are set for a slew of high-profile interactions and engagements. Singh’s visit is expected to be followed by a visit by US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Desai Biswal, the first Indian-American to occupy such an exalted diplomatic position in the US, next year. The two sides are working out mutually convenient dates for the next round of the India-US-Afghanistan trilateral. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz is poised to visit New Delhi the India-US Energy Dialogue in January 2014. Besides, the intricate machinery of bilateral engagement spanning over 32 structured dialogues between ministers and officials of the two countries should keep the India-US relations humming with new possibilities.
Author Profile
- Manish Chand is Founder-CEO and Editor-in-Chief of India Writes Network (www.indiawrites.org) and India and World, a pioneering magazine focused on international affairs. He is CEO/Director of TGII Media Private Limited, an India-based media, publishing, research and consultancy company.
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