Sunday Times 2
‘Stars aligning’ for India-US relations: Obama
View(s):NEW DELHI (AFP) -President Barack Obama said “the stars are aligned” to enable the United States and India to forge a global partnership in an interview published ahead of his visit to New Delhi.
An employee ties threads on a kite, with portraits of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (L) and U.S. President Barack Obama, ahead of Obama's visit, in Mumbai (REUTERS)
Obama, who begins an unprecedented second visit by a serving US president on Sunday, told the India Today magazine that he hoped to make “concrete progress” with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a range of issues.
But while outlining areas where the world’s two biggest democracies share common goals, Obama put pressure on Modi to do more to help secure a global climate pact.
“I firmly believe that the relationship between the United States and India can be one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century,” Obama said in the interview conducted by email.
“We’re natural partners. As two great democracies, our strength is rooted in the power and potential of our citizens. As entrepreneurial societies, we’re global leaders in innovation, science and technology.
“That’s why, when I addressed the Indian Parliament on my last visit (in 2010), I outlined my vision for how we could become global partners meeting global challenges… I’d like to think that the stars are aligned to finally realise the vision I outlined.” While observers do not expect any major policy breakthroughs on the three-day trip, both sides say the invitation to Obama for Monday’s Republic Day celebrations emphasises a new closeness in sometimes tetchy ties.
Modi was effectively blacklisted by the US until last February when it became clear he had a real prospect of winning elections against the ruling centre-left Congress party.
The Hindu nationalist was chief minister of Gujarat when deadly communal violence erupted in 2002, leading him to be be shunned by Washington and Europe.
But since coming to power, Modi has displayed no ill feeling towards Washington with both countries keen to counter-balance the rise of China.