NEW DELHI // The US secretary of state John Kerry on Thursday began a mission to build ties with a new Indian government, but fresh rifts over trade and spying cast a shadow.
On his first visit since India’s April-May elections, Mr Kerry said he was “excited” about new Prime Minister Narendra Modi and believed his “historic mandate” offered a chance for new US-India cooperation.
“The moment has never been more ripe to deliver on the incredible possibilities of the relationship between our nations,” Mr Kerry said after talks with key ministers.
“The United States and India can and should be indispensable partners for the 21st century.”
India’s foreign minister, Sushma Swaraj, said the Modi government saw “great potential for the United States as a global partner” and would welcome a “much more robust American presence” in the long-closed Indian economy.
Mr Kerry arrived in Delhi late on Wednesday for a three-day visit that also aims to lay the groundwork ahead of Mr Modi’s own trip to the US in September.
Mr Kerry is scheduled to meet Mr Modi on Friday. On Thursday, he met India’s defence and finance minister Arun Jaitley, before touring a campus of the Indian Institute of Technology, one of India’s top engineering colleges.
Later in the day, he co-chaired the fifth India-US strategic dialogue alongside Ms Swaraj. The dialogue, which discusses cooperation across a gamut of sectors ranging from energy to education, began during the tenure of former US president George W Bush but was formally re-initiated by president Barack Obama in 2010.
Part of Mr Kerry’s implicit agenda is to build ties with Mr Modi – a man whom the United States held complicit in deadly anti-Muslim riots during his chief ministership of Gujarat in 2002, and who was thus denied a visa to visit America. The United States has, since Mr Modi’s election, assured India that he would now receive a visa.
Mr Kerry said after his arrival that he was eager to strengthen ties with India in general, given how temperamental the relationship has been over the past few years.
“We want a new relationship,” he told the NDTV channel. “We want to see things move in a very positive way ... We are excited about prime minister Modi’s direction ... We think there’s a lot that the United States and India can work on together.”
Trade between India and America has increased almost fivefold since 2000, to more than US$96 billion (Dh352.6bn) in 2013. India has invested a total of $9bn in the US, while the US has invested nearly $28bn in India.
But relations have been strained by other factors: a fracas over the arrest of a junior Indian diplomat in New York last year; India’s slowness in accommodating American commercial interests; and the revelations that America’s National Security Agency snooped on Indian entities, including Mr Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Raising the issue at the joint press conference with Mr Kerry, Ms Swaraj said she had told the top US diplomat and his aides that Indians were “angry” about the alleged spying.
“I also told them that if we consider each other friendly countries, it is unacceptable that a friendly country spies on other friendly nations,” she told a joint news conference.
Mr Kerry said he could not comment about specific allegations but he insisted that US President Barack Obama had made “unprecedented” efforts to ensure better oversight of intelligence.
However, trade is likely to top the agenda during Mr Kerry’s visit, which began as a deadline loomed for India to accept a key World Trade Organisation deal that it is insisting on having amended.
“Kerry’s main agenda here will involve boosting trade,” said Pradeep Mehta, a former member of a WTO trade panel and now the secretary general of a Jaipur-based economic research NGO. “But it’s difficult. Both countries have too many red lines.”
The US, for instance, would want enhanced intellectual property protections in a bilateral trade pact with India, Mr Mehta said. But India would resist this because it would restrict its exports of generic drugs to American markets and its imports of cutting-edge defence technology from the US.
In an article in the Economic Times newspaper on Wednesday, Mr Kerry and the US commerce secretary Penny Pritzker wrote that the India-US partnership “is on the cusp of an historic transformation”.
But they also warned India against backing away from the WTO deal that eases trade restrictions. “India must decide where it fits in the global trading system. Its commitment to a rules-based trading order and its willingness to fulfill its obligations will be a key indication.”
This was a reference to a U-turn by Mr Modi’s new government on a WTO trade facilitation agreement that the previous Indian administration had agreed to last December. The agreement streamlines customs regulations and is expected to add a trillion-dollar stimulus to the world economy.
India now seeks to link the implementation of this trade deal to the progress of a food security programme that would allow it to continue providing agriculture subsidies and stockpile food, despite WTO norms to the contrary.
Mr Kerry and Ms Pritzker pressed India to agree to the trade deal before midnight yesterday, when the deadline to bring the trade protocol into the WTO’s framework was due to lapse.
Mr Kerry said on Thurday that the United States was “very sensitive” to India’s needs but that the customs agreement reached in Bali provided adequate safeguards.
“We do not dismiss the concerns India has about large numbers of poor people who require some sort of food assurances,” he said.
Mr Mehta pointed out that deadlines “pass by all the time. If the protocol isn’t passed today, it can be passed next week or next month.”
India’s stand on the WTO deal drew on historical precedent, Mr Mehta said. “Rich countries have always put issues of their interest on the fast track, and the issues of interest to poor countries are not even discussed.”
But he admitted that India’s U-turn had left it isolated. Even other developing countries and peers “such as South Africa quietened down and agreed to the trade deal”.
ssubramanian@thenational.ae
Company Profile
Company name: OneOrder
Started: October 2021
Founders: Tamer Amer and Karim Maurice
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Industry: technology, logistics
Investors: A15 and self-funded
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Small Victories: The True Story of Faith No More by Adrian Harte
Jawbone Press
Getting%20there%20and%20where%20to%20stay
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Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
SPECS
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The specs
Engine: 77.4kW all-wheel-drive dual motor
Power: 320bhp
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Transmission: Single-speed automatic
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The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Like a Fading Shadow
Antonio Muñoz Molina
Translated from the Spanish by Camilo A. Ramirez
Tuskar Rock Press (pp. 310)
The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
On sale: Now
Three tips from La Perle's performers
1 The kind of water athletes drink is important. Gwilym Hooson, a 28-year-old British performer who is currently recovering from knee surgery, found that out when the company was still in Studio City, training for 12 hours a day. “The physio team was like: ‘Why is everyone getting cramps?’ And then they realised we had to add salt and sugar to the water,” he says.
2 A little chocolate is a good thing. “It’s emergency energy,” says Craig Paul Smith, La Perle’s head coach and former Cirque du Soleil performer, gesturing to an almost-empty open box of mini chocolate bars on his desk backstage.
3 Take chances, says Young, who has worked all over the world, including most recently at Dragone’s show in China. “Every time we go out of our comfort zone, we learn a lot about ourselves,” she says.
Famous left-handers
- Marie Curie
- Jimi Hendrix
- Leonardo Di Vinci
- David Bowie
- Paul McCartney
- Albert Einstein
- Jack the Ripper
- Barack Obama
- Helen Keller
- Joan of Arc
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
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Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
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On sale: Now
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
PULITZER PRIZE 2020 WINNERS
JOURNALISM
Public Service
Anchorage Daily News in collaboration with ProPublica
Breaking News Reporting
Staff of The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky.
Investigative Reporting
Brian M. Rosenthal of The New York Times
Explanatory Reporting
Staff of The Washington Post
Local Reporting
Staff of The Baltimore Sun
National Reporting
T. Christian Miller, Megan Rose and Robert Faturechi of ProPublica
and
Dominic Gates, Steve Miletich, Mike Baker and Lewis Kamb of The Seattle Times
International Reporting
Staff of The New York Times
Feature Writing
Ben Taub of The New Yorker
Commentary
Nikole Hannah-Jones of The New York Times
Criticism
Christopher Knight of the Los Angeles Times
Editorial Writing
Jeffery Gerritt of the Palestine (Tx.) Herald-Press
Editorial Cartooning
Barry Blitt, contributor, The New Yorker
Breaking News Photography
Photography Staff of Reuters
Feature Photography
Channi Anand, Mukhtar Khan and Dar Yasin of the Associated Press
Audio Reporting
Staff of This American Life with Molly O’Toole of the Los Angeles Times and Emily Green, freelancer, Vice News for “The Out Crowd”
LETTERS AND DRAMA
Fiction
"The Nickel Boys" by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday)
Drama
"A Strange Loop" by Michael R. Jackson
History
"Sweet Taste of Liberty: A True Story of Slavery and Restitution in America" by W. Caleb McDaniel (Oxford University Press)
Biography
"Sontag: Her Life and Work" by Benjamin Moser (Ecco/HarperCollins)
Poetry
"The Tradition" by Jericho Brown (Copper Canyon Press)
General Nonfiction
"The Undying: Pain, Vulnerability, Mortality, Medicine, Art, Time, Dreams, Data, Exhaustion, Cancer, and Care" by Anne Boyer (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
and
"The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America" by Greg Grandin (Metropolitan Books)
Music
"The Central Park Five" by Anthony Davis, premiered by Long Beach Opera on June 15, 2019
Special Citation
Ida B. Wells
RESULTS
Welterweight
Tohir Zhuraev (TJK) beat Mostafa Radi (PAL)
(Unanimous points decision)
Catchweight 75kg
Anas Siraj Mounir (MAR) beat Leandro Martins (BRA)
(Second round knockout)
Flyweight (female)
Manon Fiorot (FRA) beat Corinne Laframboise (CAN)
(RSC in third round)
Featherweight
Bogdan Kirilenko (UZB) beat Ahmed Al Darmaki
(Disqualification)
Lightweight
Izzedine Al Derabani (JOR) beat Rey Nacionales (PHI)
(Unanimous points)
Featherweight
Yousef Al Housani (UAE) beat Mohamed Fargan (IND)
(TKO first round)
Catchweight 69kg
Jung Han-gook (KOR) beat Max Lima (BRA)
(First round submission by foot-lock)
Catchweight 71kg
Usman Nurmogamedov (RUS) beat Jerry Kvarnstrom (FIN)
(TKO round 1).
Featherweight title (5 rounds)
Lee Do-gyeom (KOR) v Alexandru Chitoran (ROU)
(TKO round 1).
Lightweight title (5 rounds)
Bruno Machado (BRA) beat Mike Santiago (USA)
(RSC round 2).
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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More on Quran memorisation:
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Five expert hiking tips
Always check the weather forecast before setting off
Make sure you have plenty of water
Set off early to avoid sudden weather changes in the afternoon
Wear appropriate clothing and footwear
Take your litter home with you
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
