New Delhi : Dispelling the impression that US president Barak Obama, now in the last leg of his second term, is coming on a three-day visit to India just to be the ceremonial chief guest at the Republic Day parade and pay a tourist like visit to Agra with First Lady Michelle, officials in the ministry of external affairs outlined the scope of his engagements and the depth of preparatory work being done for the high profile bilateral engagement.
“We expect substantive outcomes,” said Syed Akbaruddin, the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, even as he stressed that that India-US relations shouldn’t be weighed on the scales of number of agreements and MoUs (Memorandum of Understanding) inked.
He observed that US president’s visit was the “culmination of a qualitative reinvigoration” of India-US ties after Prime Minister Modi met Obama in Washington in end-September. “Since then, both sides have acted with alacrity and collaborated in common pursuits and have traversed along a transformative path,” Akbaruddin added.
In terms of the progress on the issue of making the nuclear liability law more palatable to the Americans, he informed that the India-US contact group engaged in the task had extended its third meeting in London by a day. The objective is to break the deadlock by the time Modi-Obama talks take place at Hyderabad House this Sunday. The spokesperson informed that the contact group was trying to find “within the four walls of the nuclear liability law” the “assurances” India can give to its partners in the US, through their vendors and lawyers. Clearly, an agreement on this issue would take the presidential visit beyond mere symbolism.
In the wider context of the Indo-US relations that had nose-dived after the Devyani Khobragade incident, MEA officials described the relationship as “unparalleled in its breadth”, and saw “a vast potential for its growth.” From the Indian standpoint, the US was a key partner for capital, technology, knowledge and skills, important source of clean energy, technology and hydrocarbons, defence technology; counter terrorism, space and cyber security. India counts on American support to be part of the Nuclear Suppliers Group and reforms of multilateral political and economic forums like the UN Security Council, World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Even as the officials shared the details of the president’s itinerary for the three-day visit, they informed that the First lady could have separate engagements as well.
