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Obama, Modi say they will set new US-India agenda

WASHINGTON — United States President Barack Obama and India’s new Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday said it was time to set a new agenda between their countries, addressing concerns that the world’s two largest democracies have grown apart.

WASHINGTON — United States President Barack Obama and India’s new Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday said it was time to set a new agenda between their countries, addressing concerns that the world’s two largest democracies have grown apart.

Their agenda was described in an editorial that appeared on The Washington Post website ahead of their meeting yesterday, the centrepiece of Mr Modi’s two-day visit to the White House. They said they would explore ways to expand collaboration on trade, investment and technology that would harmonise with India’s ambitious development agenda, while sustaining the US as the global engine of growth.

“The true potential of our relationship has yet to be fully realised,’’ the leaders wrote. “The advent of a new government in India is a natural opportunity to broaden and deepen our relationship. With a reinvigorated level of ambition and greater confidence, we can go beyond modest and conventional goals. It is time to set a new agenda, one that realises concrete benefits for our citizens.’’

The two days of talks began with a private dinner for Mr Modi at the White House on Monday night, even though Mr Modi is on a nine-day religious fast and drank only warm water at the White House.

The talks, which were to continue later yesterday, are pivotal to strengthening ties between both countries, US officials had said ahead of the summit. In addition to Mr Obama’s sessions with Mr Modi, Vice-President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry was to host a luncheon today afternoon for the Indian leader.

The meetings in Washington are giving the two leaders a chance to reinvigorate an economic relationship that both see crucial to growth and security. In a joint “vision statement” issued after their first meeting at the White House dinner, both leaders vowed to expand and deepen their countries’ strategic partnership and make it a model for the rest of the world.

They said they would work together not only for the benefit of both nations, but also for the benefit of the world. They said their countries would cooperate on security and to fight terrorism and would back a “rules-based” global order in which India assumes greater multilateral responsibility, including a reformed United Nations Security Council. They also vowed to work together against the threat posed by climate change and to cooperate to address the consequences of unchecked pollution.

The meetings are the first time the two leaders have met and is Mr Modi’s first visit to the US since he was denied a visa in 2005 over anti-Muslim riots in his state of Gujarat three years earlier. Mr Modi won a landslide election win in May.

The US is seeking to repair relations, while India is wooing foreign investors to revive its economy.

In the editorial yesterday, Mr Obama and Mr Modi wrote that they were planning to discuss shared intelligence on terrorism and regional concerns, including Afghanistan, where the US is winding down its 13-year military involvement. They also said the agenda includes clean energy, climate change, medical collaboration to fight diseases and scientific efforts to improve sanitation and hygiene throughout India.

Following Mr Modi’s sweeping victory, the US Secretaries of State, Commerce and Defence have paid visits to India in recent months to smooth the way for the talks at the White House.

Yesterday’s Oval Office meeting with Mr Obama and Mr Biden was to be the centrepiece of Mr Modi’s visit. The Indian leader was to be greeted with a formal ceremony outside the West Wing upon his arrival. AGENCIES

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