Team Modi gears up for Kerry visit
30 July 2014 6:10 AM IST
Kerry’s visit comes ahead of Modi’s scheduled visit to the United States later in the year. Modi, earlier in the month, had accepted a formal invitation from president Barack Obama to visit the US in September. The invitation was handed over by visiting US deputy secretary of state William Burns.
Kerry’s trip marks the first US cabinet-level visit to New Delhi since Modi took office in May this year. Ahead of his visit, Kerry said the US and India have reached a ‘transformative moment’ in their relations.
Government sources said that Modi, during consultation with his colleagues, discussed the dates for the US visit and also drew a roadmap to give a ‘new direction’ to the US-India relations. While handing over President Barack Obama’s invitation, his emissary Burns had stated that Obama looked forward to meeting Modi and that it would be a ‘valuable opportunity’ to renew the strategic partnership and spur trade between the two countries.
Obama was one of the first few global leaders to call up Modi after he won a massive mandate. It was the first high-level contact between Modi and the US leadership ever since Washington denied him a visa in 2005, citing the 2002 riots in Gujarat.
As mentioned earlier, seeking to seize ‘transformative moment’ in ties with India, Kerry will arrive on Wednesday for talks on key issues with the new leadership here and is aimed at instilling some vigour into the bilateral ties, which appeared to have lost momentum in the final years of UPA regime.
India-US ties hit a low at the end of last year after senior Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade was arrested in New York, strip-searched and charged with visa fraud for allegedly underpaying her babysitter.
To create the right atmosphere for the talks, Kerry expressed fulsome praise for Modi’s development agenda. ‘The developmental plan of prime minister Narendra Modi reflected in his poll slogan of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’ is a great vision,’ Kerry said in Washington on eve of his departure.
During his three-day visit, Kerry will co-chair the fifth India-US Strategic Dialogue on 31 July along with his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj on crucial issues of Strategic Cooperation; Energy and Climate Change, Education and Development; Economy, Trade and Agriculture; Science and Technology, Health and Innovation. He would also call on Modi.
Ahead of his visit here, Kerry in Washington said ‘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’ and added that ‘The US and India can and should be indispensable partners for the 21st century.’
Kerry is also expected to visit Bengaluru and will also be joined by the US secretary of commerce, Penny Pritzker, who will be visiting Mumbai prior to participating in the strategic dialogue. The US secretary of state will be accompanied by a high-level inter-agency delegation and apart from Pritzker, the delegation includes deputy secretary of the department of Energy Daniel Poneman, under secretary of the department of Homeland Security Francis X Taylor and the US special envoy for Climate Change in the department of State Todd Stern.
Kerry’s trip marks the first US cabinet-level visit to New Delhi since Modi took office in May this year. Ahead of his visit, Kerry said the US and India have reached a ‘transformative moment’ in their relations.
Government sources said that Modi, during consultation with his colleagues, discussed the dates for the US visit and also drew a roadmap to give a ‘new direction’ to the US-India relations. While handing over President Barack Obama’s invitation, his emissary Burns had stated that Obama looked forward to meeting Modi and that it would be a ‘valuable opportunity’ to renew the strategic partnership and spur trade between the two countries.
Obama was one of the first few global leaders to call up Modi after he won a massive mandate. It was the first high-level contact between Modi and the US leadership ever since Washington denied him a visa in 2005, citing the 2002 riots in Gujarat.
As mentioned earlier, seeking to seize ‘transformative moment’ in ties with India, Kerry will arrive on Wednesday for talks on key issues with the new leadership here and is aimed at instilling some vigour into the bilateral ties, which appeared to have lost momentum in the final years of UPA regime.
India-US ties hit a low at the end of last year after senior Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade was arrested in New York, strip-searched and charged with visa fraud for allegedly underpaying her babysitter.
To create the right atmosphere for the talks, Kerry expressed fulsome praise for Modi’s development agenda. ‘The developmental plan of prime minister Narendra Modi reflected in his poll slogan of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’ is a great vision,’ Kerry said in Washington on eve of his departure.
During his three-day visit, Kerry will co-chair the fifth India-US Strategic Dialogue on 31 July along with his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj on crucial issues of Strategic Cooperation; Energy and Climate Change, Education and Development; Economy, Trade and Agriculture; Science and Technology, Health and Innovation. He would also call on Modi.
Ahead of his visit here, Kerry in Washington said ‘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’ and added that ‘The US and India can and should be indispensable partners for the 21st century.’
Kerry is also expected to visit Bengaluru and will also be joined by the US secretary of commerce, Penny Pritzker, who will be visiting Mumbai prior to participating in the strategic dialogue. The US secretary of state will be accompanied by a high-level inter-agency delegation and apart from Pritzker, the delegation includes deputy secretary of the department of Energy Daniel Poneman, under secretary of the department of Homeland Security Francis X Taylor and the US special envoy for Climate Change in the department of State Todd Stern.
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