US wants to support ‘Sabka saath, sabka vikas’ concept, but raises thorny issues on trade front
With fulsome praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Sabka saath, sabka vikas” vision that won him an historic mandate, US Secretary of State John Kerry arrives in New Delhi on Wednesday for the first high-level interactions with the Modi Government.
“This is a potentially transformative moment in our partnership with India, and we’re determined to deliver on the strategic and historic opportunities that we can create together,” Kerry declared as he dwelt on the Obama administration’s earnestness to give a new push to US-India relations after a year of drift that was also punctuated by an ugly diplomatic spat.
Kerry’s visit will “lay the groundwork for Prime Minister Modi’s September visit to the United States”, the State Department said, noting that the mission “underscores the importance of the US-India partnership”.
Besides calling on the Prime Minister, Kerry will be co-chairing with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj the annual US-India Strategic Dialogue that would cover the full range of bilateral issues — expanding bilateral trade, tackling climate change, improving energy cooperation and building on people-to-people ties.
The high-power US delegation that Kerry leads will include Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman, Department of Homeland Security Under Secretary Francis Taylor and NASA Associate Administrator Michael O’Brien.
“The new Indian Government’s plan, “Sabka saath, sabka vikas”, together with all, development for all — that’s a concept, a vision that we want to support,” Kerry said in a preview of the upcoming talks at the Centre for American Progress, a prominent Democratic think tank of Washington.
“We believe it’s a great vision, and our private sector is eager to be a catalyst in India’s economic revitalisation,” he said, adding that American companies were the leaders in exactly the key sectors in which India wants to grow such as high-end manufacturing, infrastructure, healthcare and information technology.
As Kerry put it, renewing the dialogue with the new Indian Government offers “a new set of opportunities, new possibilities”.
“India’s new Government has won an historic mandate to deliver change and reform. And together, we have a singular opportunity to help India to be able to meet that challenge - to boost two-way trade, to drive South Asia’s connectivity, to develop cleaner energy, to deepen our security partnership in the Asia Pacific and beyond,” he said, commenting: “This is the moment to transform our strategic relationship into an historic partnership that honors our place as great powers and great democracies. We intend to leave not an instant behind us. We are going to get to work now.”
However, for all the expansive note that he struck, Kerry did not miss the opportunity to flag some of the thorny issues between the two countries, notably on the trade front and on opening up the Indian economy further to foreign players.
Kerry went on to say that India “has a decision to make about where it fits in the global trading system”, adding: “India’s willingness to support a rules-based trading order and fulfil its obligations will help to welcome greater investment from the United States and from elsewhere around the world. The greater transparency and accountability that Prime Minister Modi put in place during his time as Chief Minister tells us he has already provided a model of how raising standards can actually increase economic growth.”
“If India’s Government delivers on its plans to support greater space for private initiative, if it creates greater openness for capital flows, if it limits subsidies that stifle competition, if it provides strong intellectual property rights, believe me, even more American companies will come to India. They may even race to India,” he said, stressing: “The bigger picture has to guide us and the end game has to guide us.”
Kerry also brought up the issue of decisive Indian action to deal with the challenge of climate change. “Climate volatility is clearly taking a toll on India’s population. And so is pollution. Of the 10 cities in the world with the worst air quality, six are in India. Each year in India, the effects of air pollution cause nearly 1.5 million deaths,” he said, even as he welcomed Modi’s push for renewable energy sources such as solar energy.