Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump during their bilateral meeting at Osaka, Japan, last week, “aired their concerns,” and agreed that their trade ministers, or representatives, will meet soon to sort out these issues. Modi set out four priority issues during the talks with Trump - Iran, 5G, bilateral ties and defence relationship. Trump picked out trade and 5G, even as he was effusive in his praise for Modi, India's Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale told reporters later.
Trump, who had targetted India in a tweet for “very high tariffs, welcomed the idea”, according to Gokhale. This indicated that both sides have decided to take these issues to the negotiating table and not make any public comments. Modi did mention the retaliatory tariffs after the US decision on revoking its Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) for India, but merely said that it was “something that had already happened”, and now they should look at how “they can resolve these issues”.
On trade, the Foreign Secretary made it clear that “negotiations are not done at the level of leaders… the idea was to clear the air, and then to set the agenda for discussions in resolving trade matters. In that direction, both leaders have directed officials to now move forward. And that’s where we found the discussions to be very open and very productive.”
While discussing Iran, Modi conveyed India’s concerns related to energy security, and peace and stability in the region. He pointed out that although India gets about 11 per cent of its energy from Iran, it had reduced oil imports from the country. This was “appreciated very much by President Trump”, he said. “The President expressed his hope that oil prices will remain stable and regional peace and stability maintained,” Gokhale said. On 5G, the two leaders had a brief discussion, with Modi pointing out that India is going to be a “billion users” of this technology. Trump spoke about the work American companies are doing in 5G. He said that he looked forward to working with India on this issue. It was again decided to continue the conversation through meetings at the technical level, as well as at the level of Secretary of State and the External Affairs Minister, and the technical ministers. Due to paucity of time, Gokhale said the S-400 Russian missile deal was not discussed, and referred to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s comments that India will act in its own national interest.
The tone of the bilateral meeting was set at the beginning, when Modi reminded Trump that he was back with a “huge and landslide victory”, and recalled his telephone conversation with the US President, his “love towards India” and the “warm message” sent through US Secretary of State Michael R Pompeo. Trump too, in his opening remarks, said that they’ve become “great friends” and the two countries have never been closer. Acknowledging Modi’s “landslide election” by saying that “you deserve it”, Trump said: “I think we’re going to have some very big things to announce. A very big trade deal.” He also told Modi that “it’s been a lot of fun being with you”.
Modi calls for global meet on terror
At the Brics informal meet in Osaka on the margins of G-20 called for strengthening WTO and fighting protectionism and terrorism, Modi again called for a global conference on terrorism, saying the world can’t remain inactive just because there’s a lack of consensus in the fight against terror. “Terrorism is the biggest threat to humanity. It not only kills innocents but also severely affects economic development and social stability,” he said. Later, in the Russia-India-China trilateral meeting too, Modi sought help from Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, in organising a global meet on terrorism. In his remarks, Modi spoke about strengthening the WTO, fighting protectionism, ensuring energy security and the need to work together to fight terrorism.
Modi meets Abe, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia
Modi held wide-ranging talks with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe on the global economy, issues of fugitive economic offenders and disaster management. It was the first meeting between the two leaders since the start of Japan’s Reiwa era and Modi’s re-election after the general election. Modi thanked Abe for his warm welcome to him and the Indian delegation visiting the G20 summit. He also appreciated Japan’s leadership as the G20 chair. The PM announced that President Ram Nath Kovind will participate in the coronation ceremony of Emperor Naruhito in October.
Modi also held bilateral talks with Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman and discussed deepening cooperation in trade and investment, energy security and counter-terrorism with the “invaluable strategic partner.” Saudi Arabia is India’s top supplier of crude oil but the two countries have expanded their relationship beyond energy, and their governments have agreed to build a strategic partnership.
