Significant agreements and announcements are expected on January 25 following Modi-Obama Summit meeting that hopes to mitigate US nuclear firms concerns over Nuclear Liability Act, renew 10-year defence pact with a focus on joint production of defence equipment, larger use of clean technologies by India to reduce emissions and US assistance for three smart cities as part of PM's '100 smart cities'.
Agreements are also expected on purchase of solar panels from India and economic cooperation, besides counter-terrorism and cyber security.
Optics is a key aspect of this big visit - first for an US President at a Republic Day parade and first time that a US head of state is visiting India for second time in his tenure considering the fact that only six US Presidents have visited Delhi since 1947. Deliverables apart, this visit is largely about giving momentum to ties from where Modi had left last September to reverse the trend that had set in ties since 2011, said a source who did not wish to be identified. The last three months have seen movement in ideas agreed on during PM's September visit.
It is no secret that the idea to invite Obama was the brainchild of Modi when the PM was in Washington after the US leader rued that his daughters have not visited India. The two has developed an excellent chemistry within a short period, sources pointed out.
But platitudes are not enough to make a strategic partnership work according to former US Ambassador to India Robert Blackwill.
"...progress on these bilateral subjects and repeated Summit platitudes, while they reflect the fact that a stronger India is in America's national interest, do not a strategic partnership make. And India and the United States are currently far from being operational "natural allies" to use former PM Vajpayee's term, except in the very long run," Blackwill said recently at a closed door India-US Track II dialogue organised by Ananta Aspen Centre.
Furthering civil nuclear cooperation -- a prospective deliverable from the visit -- is less easier said than done. Less than 72 hours before Obama's arrival the two sides are trying hard to reach an amicable solution to India's Nuclear Liability Act that would enable commercial implementation of the deal reached in 2008. The contact group brainstormed at their third meeting held in London --since it was formed during Modi's Washington visit - on Wednesday and Thursday for a concrete outcome during Obama's trip for operationalizing six years after the deal was signed, official sources told ET.
According to former MEA Secretary and noted foreign affairs specialist Vivek Katju, the visit is more symbolic in nature. But he pointed out that efforts have been made for achievements in nuclear energy and defence since last September. "Inviting a US President for the Republic Day also signifies domectic evolution of the Indian polity," Katju told ET.
Talks of Indo-US Contact Group on nuclear cooperation centred on three issues of Liability, India's Nuclear Suppliers Group membership and administrative arrangements (also involves reprocessing nuclear fuel) for operationalising the deal, MEA spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said.
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