Ø After discussions that ran overtime by about an
hour, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Barack Obama decided to
take the India-U.S. relationship “to the next level,” saying the “true
potential of the relationship has yet to be realised.” In the joint statement,
while India did not accede to the U.S. request to join the international
coalition against ISIS, the two sides agreed on several ways to enhance
cooperation on terror. It’s a dinner where every detail had been discussed
threadbare even before the covers were laid. Even so, U.S. President Obama’s
dinner for Prime Minister Narendra Modi managed to come up with some surprises
for the guests, beginning with President Obama’s greeting in Gujarati, asking
Mr. Modi, “Kem Chho?” (How are you), to which Mr. Modi replied “Thank you,” in
English, a break from the last few days where he has stuck to Hindi for all his
interactions. The leaders then sat down for their first face-to-face
meeting, where Mr. Modi handed over his carefully-chosen gifts to President
Obama, including a version of the “Bhagavat Gita according to Gandhi,” based on a series of lectures the Mahatma
had given on the sacred text. While India did not accede to the U.S.
request to join the international coalition against Islamic State, the two
sides agreed on several ways to enhance cooperation on terror. India and the
U.S. will work on “joint and concerted efforts to dismantle” terror groups such
as the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, D-Company (Dawood Ibrahim network)
and the Haqqani network by shutting down “their financial capabilities.”
They would also work together on building a database to monitor citizens under
the terror scanner who are returning from “conflict zones.” They will also
increase a partnership on maritime security. On other issues, the two sides
agreed to a special mechanism to speed up the implementation for the civil
nuclear deal, as well as the disbursal of $1 billion from the Indian exim bank
to allow Indian companies to import more technology on renewable energy, with a
focus on solar energy for 500 Indian “smart cities.” The U.S. will also partner
to build infrastructure in Ajmer, Allahabad, and Visakhapatnam.
| Modi Obama chemistry |
Ø Legendary Indian boxer M.C. Mary Kom entered
the final of the women’s flyweight category by defeating her Vietnamese rival Le
Thi Bang in a semi-final bout at the Asian Games on Tuesday. She is assured of
at least a silver medal.
Ø The 20-day “stand-off” between Indian and
Chinese troops in Eastern Ladakh has ended. The External Affairs Ministry
announced that both sides “carried out disengagement and redeployment of border
troops” on September 26 and 27. The statement said that status quo — as on
September 1 — had been re-established.
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