Indicating a strong economic dimension to the meeting between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here next Friday, the White House expects the two leaders to “chart a course towards enhanced trade, investment and development cooperation between the United States and India”.
The meeting will also “highlight India’s role in regional security and stability”, the White House said in a brief announcement. It will be the third major bilateral meeting between the two leaders. Singh visited Washington in 2009, followed by Obama’s India visit in 2010. The two have held several other meetings on the margins of multilateral summits.
Besides economic issues, the two sides are expected to deal with many important matters including implementation of the civil nuclear deal and furthering defence cooperation. Singh is also slated to bring up the acute Indian concerns over certain clauses in the proposed American immigration reform legislation that target Indian IT firms operating in the US and the movement of Indian professionals.
US Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry had visited India in recent months to set the stage for the PM’s working visit. With a controversy having erupted over a secret Cabinet Committee on Security note setting forth the way forward on the nuclear liability law enacted by Parliament, it remains to be seen precisely how the Indian side deals with this matter during the interactions with American officials.
The Pentagon has proposed a major expansion in defence relations, details of which were dealt with by US Deputy Defence Secy Ashton Carter at his meetings in New Delhi earlier this week. Co-development and co-production of the next generation of the Javelin anti-tank missile is one specific proposal offered by the Americans.
The New York-based “Sikhs for Justice”, which has been waging a legal battle against top guns of the Congress Party over the 1984 massacre of Sikhs, has called upon President Obama to take up the issue with Singh during his talks. The SFJ plans to hold a rally in front of the White House during the Prime Minister’s visit. “The rally is aimed at exposing the incessant policy of impunity practiced by PM Singh’s government towards the perpetrators of November 1984 Sikh genocide,” it said.