India big part of Obama’s plans

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President Barack Obama had a short but crucial talk at the East Asia Summit in the Cambodian capital on Tuesday. Jayanth Jacob reports.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President Barack Obama had a short but crucial talk at the East Asia Summit in the Cambodian capital on Tuesday. “India is a big part of my plans,” Obama told Singh in their first meeting since his re-election as US President.

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“Congratulations on your re-election,” Singh told Obama.

While Obama met the prime ministers of Japan and China, as well as Cambodian leader Hun Sen, time constraints did not allow him to have a structured meeting with Singh. However, the two managed to exchange pleasantries and shake hands on the sidelines of the summit.

National security adviser Shivshankar Menon held a meeting with his US counterpart Tom Donilon on bilateral relations and other issues.

Singh also met Japanese prime minister Yoshihiko Noda, who committed a second round of loans worth 184 billion yen under the overseas development assistance (ODA) for the second phase of the dedicated freight corridor and an infrastructural project in South India, official sources said.

In his meeting with Noda, “Singh welcomed the ongoing projects under the ODA, but emphasised that India's priority is investment by Japanese business in infrastructure projects. He referred to the DMRC as a fine example,” sources said.