With India-US relations widely reckoned to be stuck in a plateau for quite some time now, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be visiting Washington on September 27 for a meeting with US President Barack Obama.
It will be a “short working visit” ahead of Singh’s trip to New York for the UN General Assembly session, but one that would be “very substantive”, according to National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon. A White House statement quoted US National Security Adviser Susan Rice as saying that Obama was “looking forward to welcoming PM Singh to the White House on Friday, September 27”.
The meeting “will highlight India’s role in regional security and stability and provide an opportunity for the two leaders to chart a course toward enhanced trade, investment, and development cooperation between the United States and India,” said the statement. Menon, who held a round of preparatory meetings with top US officials including Rice and Deputy Secretary of State William Burns, told the Indian media that the visit would deal with the “full spectrum of relations” between the two countries.
“Preparations are underway for a successful visit,” he said, but declined to go into specifics, let alone provide an idea of the deliverables. On the landmark Indo-US civil nuclear deal, whose implementation has remained stalled over India’s tough nuclear liability law, Menon claimed there was ‘steady progress’ on this ‘complex’ matter.
“What you will see now is the unfolding of a series of agreements, which gradually lead you to the big one to the actual construction of the reactor. So right now, what is being discussed is really the commercial aspect,” he said and referred to the commercial and technical negotiations going on between the Nuclear Power Corporation of India and the US’s Westing-house Electric Company.
Highlighting the comprehensive nature of engagement with the US, Menon said there are 32 different dialogues going on between the two. Menon, who also called on Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel, spoke of the significant growth of defence relations. Asked about a US assessment of a possible “path-breaking” agreement in relation to defence acquisitions, Menon dwelt on the moves to shift from a buyer-seller relationship to one of co-developing and co-producing defence equipment by addressing the issues of technology transfer.
Rice, during her meeting with Menon, reaffirmed the US commitment to further expand and strengthen bilateral ties, including economic and commercial ties.