Modi, Obama to talk climate, nuclear deal

Many of the contentious issues between India and United States, including an agreement on climate change, civil-nuclear deal and defence procurement, are likely to be finalised at one-on-one meeting between US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the officials have failed to resolve the “sticky” points.

Updated on: Jan 23, 2015, 24:29:49 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

Many of the contentious issues between India and United States, including an agreement on climate change, civil-nuclear deal and defence procurement, are likely to be finalised at one-on-one meeting between US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the officials have failed to resolve the “sticky” points.

These issues would be discussed on the first day of President Obama’s visit on January 25 during a meal meeting between the two leaders.

The venue of the meeting has not been finalised and may take place at Hyderabad House or PM Modi’s residence at Race Course Road. Officials sources described the proposed meeting as highly speculative.

Sources confirmed that a firm deal on climate change — that would bring carbon emitters on board for the Paris climate summit — was “still some distance away” and that a breakthrough could be achieved at the meeting. “The meeting will present a seminal moment in bilateral ties and will set a different tone for reinvigorating the partnership. It will set the path for deliverables in the remaining two years of Obama’s presidency,” a diplomatic source said. “A slew of contentious issues are on the table for the two leaders to resolve,” an official source said.

During Obama’s three day visit, he will be protected around the clock by 2,000 US security personnel. PM Modi has been given the code name Lotus — in keeping with the President of the US (POTUS) abbreviation — by the US security personnel.

Sources said Obama is expected to speak about the contribution of the Indian diaspora in US and about unity in diversity in the two nations at his address at Sirifort Auditorium on January 27. He is also expected to underline the importance of good India-US relations for a “strong” modern world to fight terror.

Unlike the previous Obama visit in 2010, there will be no solo event of Michelle Obama. Their children will not attend the event owing to their school schedules.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

Follow India news real-time updates and the latest news covered on Hindustan Times, featuring today's critical updates on Sonam Wangchuk LIVE and more across India.