No breakthrough in hurdles facing India-U.S. ties

October 01, 2014 02:31 am | Updated November 17, 2021 01:01 am IST - Washington:

The joint statement between India and the U.S., released after discussions between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Barack Obama on Tuesday, listed an exhaustive “laundry list” of all agreements between both sides from knowledge partnerships and renewable energies to nuclear issues. However, it lacked significant progress, or breakthrough, in the various issues the two nations face.

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.

Earlier, India and the U.S. agreed on the framework to renew their 10-year-old “strategic partnership” on defence issues. From Mr. Modi’s remarks, it seemed quite clear that the focus of the discussions were on economic issues.

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