India-US relations | India Writes

Taj beckons: Modi invites ‘good friend’ Obama to visit India, NSG a work in progress

September 8, 2016September 8, 2016 - by India Writes Network

It was the last meeting between India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama, but it looks like they will be seeing more of each other even after the American leader demits office.
“It was a very warm and friendly meeting on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit. Both leaders reviewed the immediate priorities in the strategic partnership,” said sources after their meeting in Vientiane on September 8.
“PM also invited President Obama to visit India after he demits office,” said sources. “President Obama said that he would welcome any opportunity to visit India. As an aside, he added that he and Michelle were yet to see the Taj Mahal!”
It’s not clear what was discussed about the US’ plan to fast-track India’s membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, for which the US support will always be crucial. There was, however, a cryptic hint that President Obama will do all he can and help in any way he can. “President Obama said that he has always been a friend of India and will continue to be a “strong partner of India and help in any way I can,”’ Said sources.
Reading between the lines, those in the know can expect that Mr Obama will do his best to advance India’s NSG membership, but going by current geopolitical complications and conflicted India-China relationship, New Delhi may have to wait a while before it enters the nuclear club as a member.

A meeting of minds: US backs India against Pakistan-backed terrorism

August 31, 2016August 31, 2016 - by Shweta Aggarwal

Marking a meeting of minds on a host of pressing issues, India and the US have decided to step their counter-terror cooperation, with Washington strongly backing India by renewing call to Pakistan to bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai and Pathankot terror attacks to justice.
The second Strategic and Commercial Dialogue between India and the US ended on a high note, with both sides upbeat about the blossoming of bilateral relations in all spheres and underlining their resolve to take this strategic partnership to new heights.
The US’ robust backing on India’s concerns over Pakistan-sponsored terrorism was music to New Delhi’s ears. “The US supports all efforts to brining the perpetrators of the Mumbai and Pathankot attacks to justice… terror is terror no matter where it comes from,” said US Secretary of State John Kerry in New Delhi on August 30, after wide-ranging talks with India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. The two strategic partners also reiterated their resolve to intensify counter-terror cooperation. They will intensify intelligence sharing and specifically “work for the early operationalization of an agreement on exchanging information on known or suspected terrorists,” said Mrs Swaraj. The two sides also signed a framework agreement on combating cyber crimes.

A new symphony: NSG tops agenda at India-US dialogue

August 29, 2016August 29, 2016 - by Manish Chand

Ahead of the last meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama in China, India and the US will hold their second strategic and commercial dialogue in New Delhi, which will hopefully bring to closure some key issues on the bilateral agenda and map the way ahead.
The Strategic Dialogue will be co-chaired by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and US Secretary of State John Kerry and the Commercial Dialogue will be co-chaired by India’s Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and US Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker. The August 30 talks, which will be followed by the Modi-Obama meeting in on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hangzhou, will cap more than a decade of blossoming of the India-US relations, which were transformed by the pathbreaking India-US nuclear deal in the summer of 2005.
With the bilateral relationship on a firm footing, the focus will be logically on the unfinished agenda during the last few months of the Obama presidency. For India, getting full membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group tops the agenda as only a strong push from the US can swing around fence-sitters and sceptics.
In the end, with so much going on between the world’s largest democracies, PM Modi and President Obama will surely have a lot to commend each other for bringing the India-US relationship this far. Hesitations of history are passe, and “a new symphony is in place” as PM Modi said memorably in his speech to the US Congress. It’s time to play on, raise the bar and aim big…