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Modi Leaves For His First State Visit To US

By LokMarg 20th June 2023

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Tuesday, emplaned for the United States for his first historic State visit.

Prior to leaving for the US, PM Modi tweeted, “Leaving for USA, where I will attend programmes in New York City and Washington DC. These programmes include Yoga Day celebrations at the @UNHQ, talks with @POTUS @JoeBiden, address to the Joint Session of the US Congress and more.”
PM Modi was invited by the US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden. The visit will commence in New York where the Prime Minister will lead the celebrations of the International Day of Yoga at the United Nations Headquarters on June 21.

PM Modi will then travel to Washington DC, where he will receive a ceremonial welcome at the White House on June 22 and meet President Biden to continue their high-level dialogue. President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will host a State Dinner in honour of the Prime Minister the same evening, according to a release issued by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). The PM will also address a Joint Sitting of the US Congress on June 22.

The invitation to deliver such a historic speech was extended by both the House of Representatives and the Senate, demonstrating bipartisan support and respect for Prime Minister Modi in the United States. He would be the first Indian Prime Minister to address a joint session of the United States Congress twice.

The invitation letter from the President and First Lady praised PM Modi’s last historic address seven years ago, which helped cement the connection between the two countries.

The White House emphasised in its message that it was an occasion to reaffirm the two countries’ deep and close alliance. PM Modi expressed his thanks for the privilege and stated that he was looking forward to addressing the joint session.

In his message, PM Modi reiterated the pride in having a Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership with the US founded on the principles of democratic values, close people-to-people ties and a staunch commitment to global peace and prosperity.

On June 23, the Prime Minister will be jointly hosted at a luncheon by US Vice President Kamala Harris and the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. In addition to official engagements, the Prime Minister is scheduled to have several curated interactions with leading CEOs, professionals, and other stakeholders. He will also meet members of the Indian Diaspora.

He is expected to meet business leaders of 20 top American companies here and is also expected to address a gathering of more than 1,500 diaspora and business leaders who have been invited to the John F Kennedy Centre in Washington.

Top 20 business leaders of US companies including Mastercard, Accenture, the Coca-Cola Company, Adobe Systems and Visa are expected to meet with the Prime Minister, two people familiar with the event and its logistics told ANI.

The business advocacy group, the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) headed by Dr Mukesh Aghi will host ‘We The People: Celebrating the U.S.-India Partnership’ on Friday, June 23, 2023, in Washington D.C.

A reception at the Hall of Nations Terrace (Kennedy Center) will follow the Prime Minister’s address. The event with some of the important names including Shantanu Narayen, Chief Executive Officer of Adobe Systems; Julie Sweet CEO of Accenture; Ryan McInerney CEO of Visa Inc, Michael Miebach, CEO of Mastercard; and James Quincey, CEO of Coke Cola.

After this, the PM will then travel to Cairo to pay a state visit to Egypt from June 24-25. (ANI)

Doval’s US Visit To Focus On US-India Initiative For Critical, Emerging Tech

By LokMarg 30th January 2023

India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval arrived in Washington on Monday morning to attend the first formal talks on the Initiative for Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET).

Doval is scheduled to discuss the iCET with his American counterpart Jake Sullivan at the White House on Tuesday afternoon .
“iCET is the next big milestone in India-US Strategic Partnership with a simple objective to take bilateral cooperation to the next level but specifically in areas of interest to India,” an official familiar with the India-US deliberations told ANI.

The NSA is accompanied by a high-powered delegation. India’s Principal Scientific Adviser, ISRO chairman, Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister, Secretary of the Department of Telecommunications and DG, DRDO, are five high-profile members of the delegation.

There is also an industrial delegation which is scheduled to meet the US side.

iCET was first mentioned in a statement after a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden in Tokyo in 2022 on the sidelines of the Quad Leaders Summit.

In the discussions to be held at the White House, there would be sharp focus on aligning Washington and New Delhi’s strategic, commercial and scientific approaches specifically in the field of technology.

“Through iCET, India would send a message out to the broader industry that India can be a ‘trusted partner’ and that the two democracies could discuss how to build a trusted partner ecosystem between US and India where there’s free flow of R&D and other information pertaining to technology specifically,” the official said.

Tuesday’s meeting is ought to be outcome-oriented with a clear sense of achievable action points ANI has learned.

Experts say that there is a hope that both India and the United States will be able to specify priority areas of cooperation.

iCET has no explicit reference to China but the Biden administration sees technology development vis-a-vis China as a zero-sum game that the US cannot lose. iCET initiative could be one way forward.

“As China makes extremely fast progress when it comes to technology and one sees an aggressive penetration from the Chinese side across the world, if not stemmed and matched by something aggressive, the world will find it as a fait accompli…. So if one has to roll that progress back, then everybody else has to work together,” another official told ANI. (ANI)

Avoid Unidimensional View Of Indian Subsidies: Sitharaman

By LokMarg 15th October 2022

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that despite this year’s projected growth rate of 7 percent for the Indian economy, India remains concerned about the global economic outlook and geopolitical environment.

Attending the Development Committee Meeting of the World Bank-IMF in Washington DC on October 14, Sitharman said that reducing crop loss and food waste should also be the first intervention of choice to ensure food security, in the finance ministry said.
The Union Finance Minister urged the World Bank to avoid a unidimensional view of subsidies and not to lose focus on the internationally agreed basic principle of common but differentiated responsibilities

The finance minister mentioned that the “Food and Energy Crisis paper” rightly identifies Energy Efficiency as the ‘first fuel of choice. “Similarly, reducing crop loss and food waste should also be the ‘first intervention of choice’ to ensure #FoodSecurity,” the finance ministry quoted Sitharaman as saying.

Sitharaman has held back-to-back bilaterals with global finance ministers and heads of the top international organizations in Washington DC on topics centered on important economic issues.

The Finance Minister met International Monetary Fund (IMF) Deputy Managing Director Gita Gopinath, on the sidelines of the IMF-WB meeting and discussed current global matters, including food and energy security issues.

They also held talks on global debt vulnerabilities, climate matters, Digital Assets, and the upcoming G20 India Presidency.

On Thursday, Finance Minister Sitharman participated in the second day of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting in Washington DC.

Her interventions focused on infrastructure investments and International Taxation during the meeting on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank Group (WBG).

At a university event on Thursday, Sitharaman said that India is setting global benchmarks on the digital front and that there is a sense of confidence in the country that it will be able to face geopolitical and economic uncertainties and still perform.

Responding to a question on India’s economic prospects in the face of global uncertainty, Sitharaman said India is now setting global standards, and countries around the world recognize this scale of achievement.

She made these remarks after an event at Johns Hopkins University event in Washington on the topic “Technology, Finance, and Governance: The Multiplier Effect”. (ANI)

US Make Efforts To Counter China’s Growing Influence In Pacific

By LokMarg 9th October 2022

To counter China’s growing influence in the Pacific, the United States has dialed up every effort and made attempts that would reduce the possibility of other countries in the Pacific region getting into China’s orbit, Global Strat View reported.

Recently, US president Joe Biden held a summit with 14 Pacific Island where they issued an 11-point Declaration on US-Pacific Partnership, declaring that they shared a vision for a region where “democracy will be able to flourish.”
“We share a vision for a resilient Pacific region of peace, harmony, security, social inclusion, and prosperity, where individuals can reach their potential, the environment can thrive, and democracy will be able to flourish,” read the declaration on US-Pacific Partnership.

Washington’s plan to deepen diplomatic engagement with the Pacific comes as concerns about China’s expanding influence in the region.

During the summit, US President said, “The security of America, quite frankly, and the world depends on your security and the security of the Pacific islands.”

According to the Global, Strat View citing Derek Grossman, an analyst with the global think tank RAND Corporation, earlier, Washington had not been that active in strengthening the ties with Pacific countries. Still, the latest summit shows that the US is changing its outlook, especially in the wake of China’s expanding influence in the region.

“We are still all working from, generally speaking, the same sheet of music, which is we don’t want the Chinese establishing a military foothold in the region, and we don’t want them corrupting the institutions of the region,” he said as quoted by Global Strat View.

Biden announced that Pacific island nations will receive around USD 810 million in funds under the ‘Pacific Partnership Strategy.

The US is working at a micro level in order to remain strong in the Pacific region. This involves financial investments, defense cooperation, police training, COVID assistance, and climate support.

One of the highlights of the summit is the participation from the Solomon Islands as it has recently, in May, met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

In the recent summit, Solomon Island opposed China’s reference to US Pacific Partnership Declaration. It had previously denied US and UK ships access, resulting from Beijing’s influence. All this has added to the US concerns about the Solomon Islands became a China ally, reported Global Strat View. (ANI)