Narendra Modi makes a 'hugely successful journey' to America

Washington Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrapped up what he himself called a hugely successful journey to the US winning over everyone from President Barack Obama down hardselling India to big business and wowing IndianAmericansIf starstruck IndianAmericans a community that numbers about three million and many of whom who played a big role in his historic election victory gave him an unparalleled rock star like reception the US establishment treated him no less with Obama himself joining Modi on an unscheduled trip to the memorial of AfricanAmerican civil rights leader Martin Luther King JrIndian Prime Minister Narendra Modi L and US President Barack Obama shake hands after a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House September 30 2014 in Washington DC Obama met with the newly elected Modi during his first trip to the United States as Prime Minister Pic AFPIn a joint vision statement and a joint oped in the Washington Post something again unprecedented Modi and Obama vowed to chalein saath saath together we go forward with a new agenda to realise the full potential of a renewed USIndia partnership for the 21st centuryNever once was mentioned the denial of a US visa to Modi for nearly a decade nor a major diplomatic row over the December arrest and strip search of an Indian diplomat that had virtually stalled IndiaUS relationshipA USIndia joint statement issued after Tuesdays summit at the White House that lasted nearly two hours listed what some critics called a laundry list of things they can do together in fields ranging from health and education to space exploration But the real significance of the trip lay in the fact that it put the IndiaUS partnership back on the rails And more importantly Modi secured a commitment from Obama to make joint and concerted efforts to dismantle terrorist safe havensThe statement specifically mentioned four Pakistanbased groups Lashkare Taiba JaisheMohammad the DCompany and the Haqqanis besides Al Qaeda and also reiterated their call for Pakistan to bring the perpetrators of the November 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack to justiceShortly after the statement the US treasury targeted two Pakistanbased terrorist organisations and froze the assets of their leaders for providing financial support to Lashkare Taeba LeT held responsible for the Mumbai attacksNot unexpectedly India and US failed to reach a breakthrough on their landmark civil nuclear deal stalled over Indias tough liability laws But as Modi said after the summit with Obama sitting by his side we are serious about resolution of issues on both sides to enable civilian nuclear energy cooperation to take off It is important for Indias energy securityReaffirming their commitment to implement fully the nuclear deal they established a Contact Group on advancing the implementation of civil nuclear energy cooperationIt would discuss all implementation issues including liability technical issues and licensing to facilitate the establishment of nuclear parks including power plants with Westinghouse and GEHitachi technologyThe statement said Modi emphasized the priority India accords to its partnership with the United States a principal partner in the realization of Indias rise as a responsible influential world powerAnd given the shared values peopletopeople ties and pluralistic traditions President Obama recognized that Indias rise as a friend and partner is in the United States it saidNoting that twoway trade has increased fivefold since 2001 to nearly 100 billion the two leaders committed to facilitate the actions necessary to increase trade another fivefoldThe proposed steps include establishing an IndoUS Investment Initiative an Infrastructure Collaboration PlatformIndia will welcome two trade missions in 2015 focused on meeting Indias infrastructure needs with US technology and servicesModi ended his action packed journey throughout which he has been hardselling India to US business with an address to the USIndia Business Council comprising 310 top US companies doing business with IndiaPromising to replace bureaucratic red tape with a red carpet he invited them to come to India and make in India saying This is a winwin situation