 "Modi, Obama hold 'significant meeting'")
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday held a “significant meeting” with US President Barack Obama during the last leg of his five-day visit to America. Though bilateral issues such as visas, a totalisation social security pact and a bilateral investment treaty (BIT) remained unresolved, there were a few positives, with Obama expressing support for India’s bid for a permanent seat at the UN Security Council.
“I thanked President Obama for US support for India’s permanent membership of a reformed UN Security Council. I also sought US support to complete the reform process within a fixed timeframe,” Modi said.
Vikas Swarup, spokesperson of the external affairs ministry, said this was the fifth meeting between the two leaders in the past year. The meeting, held at the UN headquarters in New York, went on for about an hour.
As the PM entered the venue, Obama greeted him with an embrace. Both tried to squeeze in as much as possible into the meeting, somewhat damp compared to a summit level meeting between them in the US a year ago.
Climate change and the coming Paris conference dominated the meeting. While Obama said he was “encouraged” by India’s commitment to clean energy, Modi highlighted he shared Obama’s “uncompromising commitment” on climate change.
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“In India, our measures include not just a plan to add 175 Gw of renewable energy by 2022, but a development strategy that will enable us to transition to a more sustainable energy mix … We look forward to a comprehensive and concrete outcome in Paris with a positive agenda on combating climate change, which also focuses on access to finance and technology for the developing world, especially poor countries and small island states,” Modi said.
Nothing concrete, however, was discussed or resolved on the visa issue. India has been urging the US to reduce the fees for the H-1B and L-1 visas, used the most by the Indian information technology sector. Earlier, India had urged the US to not include short-term IT workers within the H-1B quota. Nothing fruitful seemed to have emerged on this front at Monday’s meeting, sources told Business Standard.
Many had hoped PM Modi would bring home good news on the totalisation agreement that sought to repatriate Indian workers’ contribution to the US’ social security scheme. But that wasn’t the case. Both Modi and Obama refused to spell out clearly what was discussed on the BIT. American industry has become extremely critical of India’s delay in signing the BIT, which will protect US investors doing business here.
Modi said both countries vowed to sign the two pacts — the totalisation agreement and the BIT — soon. Hour before the meeting, India signed a contract worth $3 billion with the US for purchasing 15 Chinook heavy-lift helicopters and 22 Apache attack helicopters. “Our defence cooperation is growing and we have resolved to deepen it,” Modi said.
He added he looked forward to working with the US for securing a membership for India at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation.
On defence and maritime cooperation, Modi said he was happy with the progress in the joint strategic vision for the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean regions, and engagement with partners such as Japan for a trilateral maritime exercise.
“I thanked President Obama for US support for India’s permanent membership of a reformed UN Security Council. I also sought US support to complete the reform process within a fixed timeframe,” Modi said.
Vikas Swarup, spokesperson of the external affairs ministry, said this was the fifth meeting between the two leaders in the past year. The meeting, held at the UN headquarters in New York, went on for about an hour.
As the PM entered the venue, Obama greeted him with an embrace. Both tried to squeeze in as much as possible into the meeting, somewhat damp compared to a summit level meeting between them in the US a year ago.
Climate change and the coming Paris conference dominated the meeting. While Obama said he was “encouraged” by India’s commitment to clean energy, Modi highlighted he shared Obama’s “uncompromising commitment” on climate change.
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“In India, our measures include not just a plan to add 175 Gw of renewable energy by 2022, but a development strategy that will enable us to transition to a more sustainable energy mix … We look forward to a comprehensive and concrete outcome in Paris with a positive agenda on combating climate change, which also focuses on access to finance and technology for the developing world, especially poor countries and small island states,” Modi said.
Nothing concrete, however, was discussed or resolved on the visa issue. India has been urging the US to reduce the fees for the H-1B and L-1 visas, used the most by the Indian information technology sector. Earlier, India had urged the US to not include short-term IT workers within the H-1B quota. Nothing fruitful seemed to have emerged on this front at Monday’s meeting, sources told Business Standard.
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Many had hoped PM Modi would bring home good news on the totalisation agreement that sought to repatriate Indian workers’ contribution to the US’ social security scheme. But that wasn’t the case. Both Modi and Obama refused to spell out clearly what was discussed on the BIT. American industry has become extremely critical of India’s delay in signing the BIT, which will protect US investors doing business here.
Modi said both countries vowed to sign the two pacts — the totalisation agreement and the BIT — soon. Hour before the meeting, India signed a contract worth $3 billion with the US for purchasing 15 Chinook heavy-lift helicopters and 22 Apache attack helicopters. “Our defence cooperation is growing and we have resolved to deepen it,” Modi said.
He added he looked forward to working with the US for securing a membership for India at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation.
On defence and maritime cooperation, Modi said he was happy with the progress in the joint strategic vision for the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean regions, and engagement with partners such as Japan for a trilateral maritime exercise.