PM's US trip: Biz is the buzz

NEW DELHI: For perhaps the first time, the success of an India-US summit is being measured on the strength of the agreements that will ensue rather than the power statement of the Indian Prime Minister being feted in the White House.
What are both countries getting out of the visit, in quantifiable terms, is the new buzz. It's a sign of how far the bilateral relationship has moved from a declaratory stage to the nuts and bolts of putting muscle to a framework of strategic partnership.
"Our effort will be to take it from dialogue to action," oreign secretary Shyam Saran said on Wednesday.
Even as the PM met opposition leaders Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L K Advani before he leaves on Saturday, the word from the government was that economics would remain on top of the agenda in the US.
Across a gamut of sectors, from defence, to civil aviation, biotechnology to nanotechnology, tourism to employment, India will attempt to log on to the US' acknowledged expertise in these fields to catapult itself into a different league.
Of all the things that make the US the world's hyperpower, its edge in high technology is what attracts India most. The economic agreements during the visit, said sources in the government, are aimed at two things - integrating trade, investment and technology transfer into the three pillars of modern commercial ties. Second, to make it easier for private industry on both sides to work together with less impediments. The best example, they point out, is the fact that the NSSP made it easier for the Tatas to acquire the US company Tyco.
Indian negotiators are looking ...
...history - they reckon that China's phenomenal economic growth started after a series of precisely this manner of framework agreements with the US in the 1980s. For India to realise Manmohan Singh's dream of $150 billion in investment in the Indian economy, India will have to take the China route with the US. And that's where they think India should be headed.
Politics rules all, hence the importance of the CEO's Forum which will hold its first meeting on July 18, soon after the first meeting between Manmohan and George W Bush. From now on, India's case in the US will be made by American corporate bosses who have a growing stake in India's growth.
The PM will leave on July 16 and fly to Washington the next day after a stopover in Frankfurt. It will be a state visit with full honours. Singh will be staying at Blair House and will be given a ceremonial welcome at the White House. US sources said this was a rare honour by Bush because unlike Bill Clinton, he is not given to hosting frequent state visits. Those who keep track of such things say this will be only his sixth.
President Bush will host a dinner for the PM and secretary of state Condoleezza Rice will have a luncheon meeting with him.
Singh will also be meeting vice-president Dick Cheney, defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld, treasury secretary Paul O'Neill and other key officials. On July 19, Singh will address the joint session of the US Congress. He will also meet representatives of the House International Relations Committee and the Indian Caucus, addressing the National Press Club on July 20.