|
COVER
STORY: THE US TRIP
How
Upbeat is the US?
With
Clinton running a lame-duck regime, expectations about the outcome of
talks are modest. What worries Stephen P. Cohen, senior fellow at the
Brookings Institution, is the possibility of a comparative lack of enthusiasm
in the US about the event. He wants the Indian delegation to work towards
at least getting the two presidential candidates-Gore and Texas Governor
George W. Bush-to commit themselves to visiting India in the first two
years of their administration. "It would be much more important than
the possible deals they would sign," he advises.
Despite Clinton's
upbeat visit to India, relations between the two democracies that took
a steep downturn after the 1998 nuclear tests are far from normal. Though
External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh and US Deputy Secretary of State
Strobe Talbott have had numerous meetings, key differences over India's
nuclear position have yet to be sorted out. As a result there is no let
up on the stiff economic sanctions that the US had imposed on India since
1998. Vajpayee's visit is unlikely to result in any major breakthroughs
on the subject. "I do not see any movement on strategic and security
issues," says Francine Frankel, director, Centre for Advanced Study
of India at Philadelphia University.
The economic
prospects are much brighter with some agreements planned to be signed,
specially in the power sector. When Clinton came calling to Delhi, the
two countries had signed a "vision statement" calling for institutionalising
the dialogue in finance, trade and commerce. "Vajpayee's visit can
give life to this process and lay out a clear agenda on where the two
sides see themselves on the relationship and it is also time to decide
on the work to be done in concrete terms," says Michael Clark, executive
director of the US-India Joint Business Council.
Yet with
America in election mode and mostly distracted over the slugfest between
the two presidential candidates, it is hard to see Vajpayee getting much
mileage out of the visit. Perhaps it may have been better if he had relied
on his instincts and cancelled the trip altogether. In any case, no one
would have ever accused him of being weak-kneed.
-With
C.K. Arora in Washington
DC
Pg.1
Top
|
Is
the market right in backing cartelisation by cement companies, asks India
Today Associate Editor V. Shankar Aiyar in Au ContrAiyar 