Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Barack Obama reviewed the Indo-U.S. strategic partnership and progress on collaboration in nuclear energy and climate change on Thursday. However, in a repeat of their last bilateral in June this year, and a possible embarrassment, officials differed on whether India has committed to adopting the climate change agreement this year.
Briefing the media after the meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN and East Asian summit in Vientiane, Laos, a White House official said, “The leaders noted our joint commitment, fulfilled by the United States in advance of the G20 Leaders’ Summit, to join the Paris Agreement this year as well as our resolve to adopt an ambitious HFC amendment to the Montreal Protocol this year.”
The statement contrasts with NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Arvind Panagriya’s assertion at the G-20 summit on Sunday that “domestic procedures” to ratify the climate deal could not be completed by the end of 2016.
