E-Paper
Indo-Pak hyphen irrelevant, says Krishna; US supports
For those who suffer from hyphen-phobia or fear of the United States continuing to hyphenate India and Pakistan, the inaugural India-US Strategic Dialogue underscored how the equations have diverged in recent years. With Pakistan, it’s about aid, aid and more aid. With India, it has become about trade, trade and more trade.
For those who suffer from hyphen-phobia or fear of the United States continuing to hyphenate India and Pakistan, the inaugural India-US Strategic Dialogue underscored how the equations have diverged in recent years. With Pakistan, it’s about aid, aid and more aid. With India, it has become about trade, trade and more trade.
This was also a point made by External Affairs Minister SM Krishna when he was asked why there were no specific deals for India after the Strategic Dialogue whereas during the US-Pakistan event, the latter got commitments of aid and support for development projects in that country.
Right before he left Washington, Krishna said, “Why do you want to equate Pakistan with India? India is in a different league. India is considered one of the most dynamic growing economies of the world.”
When the US and Pakistan held their meet in late March this year, one of the central goals was to “stimulate investment in Pakistan” even as its Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi was quibbling over dollars and cents in reimbursements from the US in return for Pakistan fighting terrorism emanating from its own territory. Of course, there’s still the $7.5 billion flowing in to Pakistan from America over five years courtesy the Kerry-Lugar Bill.
But when Krishna met with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, it was the latter boasting about how trade between the two countries had ballooned to $66 billion in 2009, 10-times the level in 1999. And Krishna expressed his happiness that the two nations had “launched a new financial and economic partnership as well as a framework for cooperation on trade and investment that should help us to reach new heights in bilateral trade and investment”.
Before the India-US Strategic Dialogue commenced in Washington, William J Burns, Undersecretary for Political Affairs said, “To put it simply, the only ‘hyphen’ that we will pursue with respect to our relationship is the one that links the United States and India.”
