Statement by Foreign Secretary on Barack Obama visit

New Delhi : Statement by Foreign Secretary on the visit of President of USA Barack Obama

A very good afternoon to all of you! President Barack Obama will visit India from 6-9 November 2010 on the invitation of the Hon?ble Prime Minister. As you are aware our Prime Minister visited USA in November 2009 and was given the honour of the first State visit of the Obama Administration. President Obama?s visit will reciprocate that visit and lend continuity to the bilateral engagement and high-level dialogue. The last Presidential visit to India from USA was that of President George Bush in 2006.

President Obama will be accompanied by First Lady Mrs Michelle Obama, and a high-level delegation likely to include his National Security Adviser Tom Donillon; Mr Timothy Geithner, Secretary of Treasury; Gary Locke, Secretary of Commerce; Thomas Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture; Dr Rajiv Shah Administrator of USAID, and others. A large business delegation and media delegation are also accompanying the President.

President Obama will reach Mumbai in the forenoon of 6 November. He will begin his program by paying homage to the victims of the terrorist attack in Mumbai, visit Mani Bhavan to pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi – his admiration for Gandhiji is well known – and attend a Business Summit organized by the US India Business Council in association with FICCI and CII. On 7th November he will address a ?Town Hall? meeting and associated events at the St Xavier?s College, and celebrate Diwali at a Primary School.

He will leave Mumbai and reach Delhi in the afternoon of 7th November. His program includes a brief visit to Humayun?s tomb. He will be the guest of honour at a dinner hosted by Prime Minister and Mrs Kaur.

The official component of President Obama?s visit is on 8th November beginning with the ceremonial reception at Rashtrapati Bhavan, followed by a visit to Raj Ghat.

President Obama and Prime Minister will meet in the forenoon and discuss bilateral, regional and global developments of mutual concern. They will also discuss how to expand the strategic framework of Indian-US relations on the basis of our shared values and interests.

Prime Minister will be assisted by Ministers of Finance, Agriculture, Defence, Home, External Affairs, Human Resource Development, Commerce and Industry, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister, National Security Adviser, myself and our Ambassador to USA.

On conclusion of the Summit level meeting, they will preside over the meeting of the India-US CEO Forum.

Thereafter the two leaders will address a Joint Press Conference. In the afternoon, the Hon?ble Vice-President, Leader of Opposition and Chairperson UPA Smt. Sonia Gandhi will call on President Obama. That evening President Obama will address a joint session of both houses of our Parliament, in the Central Hall.

His official program concludes with a meeting with Hon?ble President, and a State Dinner for him and the First Lady at Rashtrapati Bhavan. President Obama leaves Delhi in the forenoon of 9 November 2010 for Indonesia.

The US Administration under President Obama has expressed its commitment to strengthen Indo-US bilateral relations further, building upon the existing level of cooperation in various areas of bilateral and global engagement. Both Prime Minister and President Obama share the belief that this will be one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century.

A very warm welcome awaits President Obama. The visit comes at a time when India-US relations have matured significantly. The intensity and frequency of dialogue is unprecedented.

In addition to their meeting in November 2009 in Washington DC, Prime Minister and President Obama have met five times in the course of the last 18 months, most recently at the Nuclear Security Summit in April 2010 in Washington and the G20 Summit in June in Toronto. This is President Obama?s first visit to India.

India-US relationship is founded on shared values, increasingly convergent interests, enormous opportunities for mutually beneficial bilateral cooperation and a shared commitment to work together to address regional and global issues.

Since Prime Minister?s state visit to Washington in November 2009, cooperation has become broad-based and continues to grow and expand across sectors. Our Strategic Dialogue in June 2009 chaired by EAM and Secretary Clinton, the first of its kind between the two countries, with high-level inter-Ministerial participation on both sides was itself a landmark.

Our strategic dialogue, including through institutional mechanisms, has expanded to cover all regional and multilateral issues of mutual interest. Our defence cooperation, including defence trade, continues to grow.

The two governments have signed a Counter-terrorism Cooperation Initiative and a Framework for Cooperation in Trade and Investment; launched an India-US Financial and Economic Partnership; signed an MoU on Agriculture and Food Security Cooperation; continued to expand counter-terrorism cooperation, including on the investigations into the Mumbai terror attack; and, announced our intention to cooperate in the Global Center for Nuclear Energy Partnership, which India is establishing.

We have also completed the remaining steps for the implementation of their Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement, including conclusion of the reprocessing arrangements and procedures and completion of Part 810 assurances. India has also enacted a Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act and has signed the CSC.

We welcome the commencement of the commercial negotiations between the Indian operators and the US companies, and look forward to an early realisation of our shared goal of a robust India-US cooperation in the civil nuclear sector.

The two governments have worked purposefully to expand cooperation in trade and investment, science and technology, clean energy, health, higher education, agriculture etc which are national development priorities for India.

Bilateral commerce and economic relations have flourished. Trade has also diversified and encompasses a wide range of products, services and technology. Bilateral trade in goods and in the services sector is largely balanced.

The economic partnership between the two countries will be one important area of focus. There are a lot of synergies between the two countries. The economic relationship is growing well in both directions.

The US is the third largest source of foreign direct investments in India. Cumulative FDI inflows from the US from April 2000 to $8.86 billion constituting nearly 8 percent of total FDI into India.

According to US officials, India is the fastest growing source of foreign direct investment in the US. They are creating, saving or supporting tens of thousands of jobs in the US. India?s defence acquisitions and major purchases in energy and aviation sectors, for example, are contributing to the US economy.

We have recently signed a Framework for Cooperation in Trade and Investment; and launched an India-US Financial and Economic Partnership to further boost our bilateral economic partnership.

The relationship also derives strength from the 2.7 million Indian-origin community in USA has maintained vibrant people-to-people linkages between the two countries.

President Obama?s visit will reflect this essential continuity in our relationship. It will be an opportunity to once again underscore that our shared values of democracy, openness, pluralism and fundamental freedoms form the bedrock of our strategic partnership. It will be an opportunity to consolidate our relationship.

We will see concrete and significant steps in a wide range of areas that will expand the long term strategic framework of the relationship in a way that we can create a productive partnership for the mutual benefit of our two countries and, equally important, to give substantive content and shape to our global strategic partnership.

We will discuss ways in which we can further boost our economic ties and realise the enormous potential of our economic cooperation.

Our Prime Minister looks forward to continuing his extremely productive dialogue with President Obama on a range of issues, including the global economic situation; the threat of terrorism; the challenges in our neighbourhood; and our shared goals of sustained security, stability and prosperity in Asia.

We look forward to this visit as an important milestone in elevating our global strategic partnership to a new level.