A US-India comeback?

You should be thanking me for posting anything at all. If I didn't, you would have to talk to yourself or have an empty thread.

You are an immature person who thinks my status is tied to the number of replies my threads get. I have told you earlier that I would prefer that people like yourself kept out of my threads. Your first objective should be to practice your comprehension skills so that you can understand what has been posted. Your replies are not that important at the moment given your IDD.
Ok, next time you'e on your own, lonely boy.

You are wasting my time. There are only 24 hours in a day. In that 24 hours, I have to work, I have to eat, I have to take shower, I have to workout, I have to run errands, I have to commute and participate on this forum. As you can see, I do not have much time at hand and when you make stupid posts, you are wasting my time. You need to work on your ability to understand what is being posted before you can start replying to posts. We all have varied degree of intellect. So I am not mocking your IDD. However, I am simply imploring you to make an effort.
No, if you think you're time is being wasted, then you have no one to blame but yourself. No one is making you read or reply to any thread. It's common sense that members will ignore threads that they have no interest in. Apparently you don't understand that.

I do understand that. That is why I have been saying that neither him nor anyone else needs to respond to my threads. I am perfectly OK with that. I have my sense of what is important and based on that I am going to start a thread. If someone participates, very well. If no one participates, that is fine as well. I am not sure why it is so difficult for him or anyone else to grasp that.
As he wipes the tears off his face. :lol:
 
You are an immature person who thinks my status is tied to the number of replies my threads get. I have told you earlier that I would prefer that people like yourself kept out of my threads. Your first objective should be to practice your comprehension skills so that you can understand what has been posted. Your replies are not that important at the moment given your IDD.
Ok, next time you'e on your own, lonely boy.

You are wasting my time. There are only 24 hours in a day. In that 24 hours, I have to work, I have to eat, I have to take shower, I have to workout, I have to run errands, I have to commute and participate on this forum. As you can see, I do not have much time at hand and when you make stupid posts, you are wasting my time. You need to work on your ability to understand what is being posted before you can start replying to posts. We all have varied degree of intellect. So I am not mocking your IDD. However, I am simply imploring you to make an effort.
No, if you think you're time is being wasted, then you have no one to blame but yourself. No one is making you read or reply to any thread. It's common sense that members will ignore threads that they have no interest in. Apparently you don't understand that.

I do understand that. That is why I have been saying that neither him nor anyone else needs to respond to my threads. I am perfectly OK with that. I have my sense of what is important and based on that I am going to start a thread. If someone participates, very well. If no one participates, that is fine as well. I am not sure why it is so difficult for him or anyone else to grasp that.
As he wipes the tears off his face. :lol:

I can only lead a horse to water. I cannot make it drink :)
 
^ It is going to go way above your head but here it is: you have to start with A first before you can get to Z.
 
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said that the United States wanted to increase bilateral trade with India to $500 billion a year, a five-fold jump from $97 billion in 2013. He was in India for a two-day visit to set the stage for U.S. President Barack Obama's visit later in the month.

This is the first time that a U.S. president has been invited to be the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations on January 26.

Negotiations between the two countries have intensified in recent weeks to ensure there will be significant agreements to sign during Obama's visit on issues like investment, civilian nuclear plants, military purchases, and climate change.

On Sunday Kerry participated in the Vibrant Gujarat investment conference in the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which was attended by business leaders and foreign officials like Ban Ki-moon, the secretary-general of the United Nations, and Jim Yong Kim, the president of the World Bank.

The government is keen on attracting more foreign investment to energize India’s sluggish economy that grew by 4.5 percent in the last quarter.

According to The New York Times, when Modi led Gujarat as chief minister, he was able to smooth the way for foreign investors by speeding the decision-making process of the bureaucracy. Now that he is prime minister, the process is more complicated as much of the implementation depends on state governments. And despite having a large majority in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India’s legislature, Modi does not have a majority in the Rajya Sabha upper house. This has left many promised reforms in the pipeline.

"We're trying to complete the circle of economic reforms speedily," Modi told the conference attendees. "We are planning to take a quantum leap."

U.S. companies have faced challenges to expanding their business in India, including caps on foreign investment and disputes over intellectual property.

Both sides have also been talking for five years about how to navigate around India’s nuclear liability law that U.S. energy companies would like modified before they build civilian nuclear plants here.

"I think there's a commitment on both sides to try to find a way through that," an unnamed State Department official told the Times. "I don't know whether that will be resolved in time for the president's visit."

During his presentation to the investment conference, Kerry said it was the right time to tap the “incredible possibilities” between India and the U.S.

"We can do more together, and we must do more together, and we have to do it faster," Kerry said.

With trade in goods and services between India and the US growing five-fold since 2005, Kerry said efforts must be made to increase the trade by an equal amount over the next few years.

U.S. and the World - U.S. and India to Increase Bilateral Trade to 500 Billion - AllGov - News
 
Washington: Calling India a ‘critical ally’, two influential US senators have asked the new Defence Secretary Ashton Carter to place a special emphasis on deepening the US-India defence relationship.

“The US strategic partnership with India is among our nation’s most important,” wrote Republican John Cornyn and Democrat Mark Warner, co-chairs of bipartisan Senate India Caucus, in a joint letter Friday to Carter.

The US “has a broad array of strategic interests in the region, from the long-term security and stability of Afghanistan to our strategic pivot to the Asia-Pacific,” they wrote.

“Our partnership with India is critical as we focus on strengthening America’s long-term role in the region.”

“As you consider a wide range of important strategic and defence issues during your tenure as secretary, we ask that you place a special emphasis on India as a critical ally.”

“We believe that focusing on cultivating India as a strategic ally now will pay great dividends for both nations over the long run,” wrote Cornyn and Warner.

They expressed “our strong support” for the US-India defence relationship, as well as the commitments made by the Obama Administration to enhance the strategic partnership with India during President Barack Obama’s January visit to India.

“The renewal of the ten-year framework for the US-India defence relationship is an important component to help solidify these strategic interests,” Cornyn and Warner wrote.

Former Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel, they wrote “correctly recognised that this renewal “signal a new depth and sophistication in our defence and security cooperation, ensuring that it continues to be one of the strongest pillars of our nations’ broad strategic partnership — a partnership that will help forge security and stability in Asia and across the globe.”

“The results of our defence partnership have already proved fruitful,” Cornyn and Warner wrote noting “the US and India have cooperated in countering terrorism, combating the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and bolstering the security of the region.”

Over $10 billion (Dh36.73 billion) dollars in defence trade deals between the US and India have been signed since 2008, and the two counties now conduct more military exercises with each other than with any other country, they noted.

Cornyn and Warner also welcomed India’s initial steps toward liberalising its foreign direct investment rules in the defence sector, which will allow for greater investments by US companies, as well as both countries’ renewed emphasis on the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI).

Carter, they noted, had helped conceptualise DTTI in his previous capacity as Deputy Defence Secretary, to advance technological cooperation, co-production and co-development efforts with India.

The senators wrote they also “remain hopeful that India will make needed reforms in defence offsets, since the current system is difficult to navigate and is often a roadblock to foreign investment.”

“It would be beneficial to pursue a two-tiered system where offset funds that cannot be spent on traditional Indian defence industries could flow to a second tier of other Indian priorities such as education, skills development, or manufacturing,” they suggested.

Carter, they recalled had written in November 2013 that “there are few accomplishments of which I am more proud than what the Department of Defence has achieved with India.”

The senators said they looked forward to working with Carter “to build on these achievements and deepen our strategic bilateral and defence partnership with our key ally in South Asia.”

“As we deepen our engagement in the Asia-Pacific region, so must we deepen our partnership with India,” they wrote.

...

US lawmakers seek deeper defence ties with critical ally India GulfNews.com
 
President Barack Obama has finally resumed progress toward one of the most important strategic goals in American foreign policy: strengthening America’s alliance with India. President Obama’s visit to New Delhi in January as the chief guest of India’s Republic Day celebrations followed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s September state visit to the United States. For the Obama administration and its successor, allying with the world’s largest democracy will represent a welcome seismic shift in the balance of power.

Washington and New Delhi share common interests. The United States and India are the world’s two largest democracies with a similar commitment to the Anglo-American rule of law. Economic exchange between the nations is booming. Bilateral U.S.-India trade has increased five-fold since 2001 to nearly $100 billion. President Obama and Modi pledged to raise it another five-fold. The Indian economy presently produces $1.876 trillion a year, making it an attractive venue for American investors. Economic interdependence has also laid the foundations for closer military cooperation. Last year, India imported approximately $2 billion in military equipment from the United States, a significant increase from $237 million in 2009. The U.S. recently surpassed Russia as India’s primary arms supplier. Today, the U.S. is the Indian Army’s most frequent partner for military exercises.

America and India’s economies and political systems benefit from free trade and regional stability. China’s rise, and the expansion of its military and territorial aims, poses a threat to both. China’s border with India has sparked war before. Beijing’s aggressive claims to islands in the South China Seas reveal Beijing’s territorial ambitions have grown alongside its economy. China seeks to replace the United States as the leading power in Asia. India is pulling out of nonalignment just as the reality of disorder has begun to intrude. Since Pakistan is concerned about its nuclear-armed neighbor and depends on American aid dollars to the tune of $20 billion over just the past decade, necessity will temper its displeasure.

But the U.S. and India need to do more to secure regional stability and temper China’s ambitions. A defense pact could become the first step in a broader Asian alliance that would guarantee each nation’s security, build their economic ties, and commit them to protect the territorial status quo. An Asian defense and economic network would cement India’s recent turn away from Moscow and recognize its leading role in the region. It would keep the U.S. committed to the region at a time of shrinking defense budgets and rising global commitments.

India, the U.S., and their regional allies could form a Concert of Asia. These nations already share a commitment to free markets and democracy. It will have as its focus the moderation of China’s rise, which threatens to disrupt the decades of stability that have unwritten the economic miracles in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and now even China itself. It will also help contain other threats to regional stability: Pakistan’s religious extremism, terrorist networks, military overlords, and Russian aggression. This partnership has obvious economic and security advantages. In 2013, just the export-driven Asian Tiger (excluding Hong Kong, now part of China) and Tiger Cub economies had a combined GDP of almost $4 trillion. To export-oriented nations, military defense is of paramount importance.

A new Concert of Asia for the 21st Century could mark the way for closer economic ties. An encouraging sign is the upswing in U.S. investment in ASEAN countries to $204 billion in 2013, a rise of 9.1% from 2012. The extant seven-member Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA) is simply inadequate to take advantage of this momentum. Primarily, it has no defense component. Moreover, not only does it lack a key player like the U.S. to help balance this trade configuration, it also contains nations like Mongolia whose inclusion in the APTA has led to special concessions to less developed countries. Yet even the APTA’s signatories have recognized that without an effective and equal investor-state dispute settlement mechanism which protects foreign investors’ rights, any such agreement is a doomed non-starter. The South Asian Free Trade Area, which deals primarily with reducing customs duties, is also flawed. A stronger model is the Comprehensive Trade and Economic Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the EU, a treaty projected to buoy trade, fortify economic relations among signatories and create jobs as well as to increase $13.6 billion for European GDP.

Many of the Concert’s prospective signatories who are not Tigers or Tiger Cubs are parties to the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), which traded goods and services with America totaling $241.7 billion in 2013. But China, Japan and the EU are the leading trade partners to ASEAN and the European Union is miles ahead as the largest investor in ASEAN nations. ASEAN is being held back by the reputational deficit of legal and militaristic instability, particularly with the frequency of coups and martial law in Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar. An alliance with India and the United States, which are stable and secure democracies with both serious military capability and the rule of law on their side, will diminish these complications.

A Concert of Asia will signal to the world markets and to diplomatic friends and foes alike that India and the United States, not to mention their other allies, will help secure the stability necessary for further economic growth. The high military spending by Asian countries reflects the deficiency of trust in the region, which this concert will help alleviate. The United States, India and their Asian trade partners are in it together.

How the U.S. can strengthen economic and military ties with India - Fortune
 

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