Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
New Delhi/Washington, The Obama administration is turning on the charm offensive for Prime Minister Narendra Modi later this month. It is rolling out the red carpet for the man Washington shunned for nearly a decade by hosting him for two days, including a private dinner with the president.
A formal White House announcement on Monday said “President Obama looks forward to welcoming Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India to the White House on September 29-30, 2014″ suggesting two back-to-back meetings between the leaders. Although there was no mention of a dinner, it is believed that Obama will host one on September 29 evening after Modi’s arrival from New York City following three days of UN related activity and a community reception at the Madison Square Gardens there. The formal White House bilateral and delegation level meetings will take place on September 30, with vice-president Joe Biden hosting a lunch at the State Department.
The White House said the two leaders “will discuss a range of issues of mutual interest in order to expand and deepen the US-India strategic partnership,” including ways to accelerate economic growth, bolster security cooperation, and “collaborate in activities that bring long-term benefits to both countries and the world.”
Significantly, a reference in the statement to the regional issues they will focus on included “current developments in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq,” where it said India and the United States “can work together with partners towards a positive outcome.” That US-India sphere of regional interest and cooperation now extends to Syria and Iraq, while making no mention of China and Pakistan, is striking at a time Washington is searching far and wide for allies. New Delhi is haunted by the prospect of ISIS and al-Qaida making inroad into India even as the US is finding itself dragged back into wars that many Americans thought President Obama had extricated Washington from.
Although US-India ties are often talked up on the basis of standard tropes such as democracy and common ideals, the two sides have profound and continuing differences on trade, business, taxation, nuclear and security issues. The US president, the White House announcement added, “looks forward to working with the Prime Minister to fulfill the promise of the US-India strategic partnership for the benefit of both our citizens and the world.”
Modi will be staying at Blair House (right across from the White House), which typically hosts the president’s guests on important official visits, often a state visit. Although the Modi trip does not qualify as a state visit, which usually involves an official banquet, hosting foreign leaders in Blair House is seen as an intimate gesture signaling heightened interest in the relationship.
Then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was hosted their during his state visit when the two sides sealed the civilian nuclear deal. It is named after Francis Preston Blair — a newspaper publisher who was an advisor to US President Andrew Jackson — whose family owned the property before it was acquired by the US government.
Prime Minister Modi will also address an event organized by the think-tank Center for Foreign Relations in New York City, besides meeting business delegations in both NYC and Washington DC. In the US capital, he will also meet individual American lawmakers, although they could not get their act together for a joint session of Congress Modi was initially slated to address. Several lawmakers have also confirmed they will attend the community event in Madison Square Gardens.
