Enthused by the “very good chemistry” that President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have struck up, the United States expects this bonding to lead to “positive outcomes” as Obama embarks on his second India visit this weekend with a high-powered political, official and business delegation.
The first US President to be invited to be the chief guest at India’s Republic Day celebrations, Obama is “personally honoured” by this gesture from Modi, the White House said, commenting that this invitation “sends a very important message to the world”. It also sends a message to the American and Indian people about “our commitment to embrace the potential of this relationship”, US Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said as he laid out the agenda for Obama’s visit in broad terms.
For Obama, enhancing US engagement with India has been a top foreign policy priority right from the time he assumed office six years ago, Rhodes said, noting that Modi for his part has right from the time of his election made clear his intention to expand India-US relations.
“So it’s worth the investment in the relationship with the country, the leader, and the people of India,” the senior White House official said, stressing: “Our goal is to leave this relationship in a fundamentally different place than it was when President Obama took office, and when Prime Minister Modi assumed charge.”
“We believe that we have a unique moment of opportunity to have that type of breakthrough,” Rhodes commented as he dwelt on the “extraordinary potential in this relationship” and the efforts to “turn that potential into concrete benefits for both of our countries”.
Phil Reiner, Senior Director National Security Council for South Asia at the White House, went on to say that there was a lot of excitement within the Obama administration after receiving the Modi invite.
It’s a truly formidable political, official and business contingent that will be landing along with Obama in New Delhi on Sunday. Besides First lady Michelle Obama (daughters Malia and Sasha will not be coming because of school), National Security Adviser Susan Rice, former Speaker and House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi, Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, US Trade Representative Michael Froman and Counsellor to President John Podesta will all be there.
As indicated earlier, three prominent lawmakers - Senator Mark Warner, Congressmen Joe Crowley and Ami Bera, who happens to be the only Indian-American in the US Congress - will also be travelling with Obama.
As Rhodes put it, Obama sees the India trip as “a potentially transitional, if not transformational, moment for the relationship, because we have a very strong and clear indication from India’s leadership that they want to elevate our bilateral cooperation and our global cooperation”.
The discussions will deal with a whole gamut of issues of bilateral, regional and global interest. Bilaterally, there is a great deal of focus on defence and security cooperation, trade and investment, climate change and energy. Even though both sides have been coy about going into the “deliverables” ahead of the summit talks, there is an air of expectancy on some key announcements.
Describing Prime Minister Modi as an “ambitious and forward-looking person”, Rhodes recalled his extended discussions with President Obama during his September visit to Washington that was capped by the unscheduled joint visit to the sprawling Martin luther King Memorial.
When Obama sits with the Indian leaders as the R-Day parade rolls along Rajpath, it will be an event the like of which he has not attended overseas. “It’s a unique event. It is of great symbolic importance, given the US-India history and given the importance of Republic Day in India. And so that’s why he was more than pleased to accept the invitation,” Rhodes said. At the same time, going beyond the symbolism, he felt this engagement “sets the table for deepened bilateral and people-to-people ties”.