US, India to work together on all issues: Obama
In an early morning telephone conversation, US president-elect Barack Obama told Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that his administration
would work together with India on all important global issues.
The president-elect called up Mr Singh at 8.30 am and conveyed his support for taking the Indo-US relationship. Mr Obama told Mr Singh, who has been very vocal in his admiration and love for outgoing president George W Bush, that the US-India strategic relationship was a very important partnership and that the new administration wanted to work together with India on all important global issues.
Mr Singh, in turn, invited Mr Obama to visit India and congratulated him on his victory saying it was a ``source of inspiration for oppressed people all over the world.’’ The US president elect responded by saying that he wanted to make an early visit to India.
Mr Singh conveyed his best wishes to the new administration which now has the uphill task of putting back the US economy on rails and deciding the future and shape of US involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. The prime minister said that relations between India and the US were good but that the two sides ``could not be satisfied with status quo.’’
The telephone call, which comes exactly a week after Mr Obama was declared elected, put to rest speculation that India had been snubbed. But the Indian establishment continues to be unsure about how an Obama administration will work out for India. Mr Bush had gone beyond earlier US presidents in making India a priority and pushing through the India-US civilian nuclear deal in the face of stiff resistance.
Mr Obama has said that his priority apart from the economy would be Iraq and Afghanistan. He has clearly indicated that the Afghan problem also includes Pakistan and India. Now the government is waiting to see what Mr Obama says and does after he takes oath on January 20. So far, Mr Obama has talked to 15 world leaders including Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari and Chinese president Hu Jintao.
Mr Singh had said that he could not talk with Mr Obama due to scheduling problems and his travel plans. Before elections, Mr Obama had sent Mr Singh a very warm letter that put forward the president elect’s approach to India.
``I have every reason to believe that India’s relations with the US under president Obama will become stronger than ever before,’’ Mr Singh had said on Tuesday. In the letter also, Mr Obama had assured Mr Singh that he was in favour of broadening the friendship between India and the US and that it would be a priority for his administration.
US, India to work together on all issues: Obama- Politics/Nation-News-The Economic Times