Modi, Trump

In late September, US defence secretary Jim Mattis visited India. That was followed by Tillerson’s visit a month later during which he suggested a US-INdia initiative to counter China’s One Belt One Road initiative. Soon after, Japan said it was also part of the discussions on this. On Friday, India’s Commerce and Industries Minister Suresh Prabhu held talks with US trade representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer on key aspects of trade between the two countries, including market access and intellectual property rights.

“Despite the uncertainties that the Trump presidency has generated, recent developments and indicators that there is longterm convergence between the two countries and their willingness to build further on that understanding continue to be quite evident,” said Shyam Saran, former foreign secretary and the then prime minister Manmohan Singh’s special envoy on the India-us nuclear deal.

Hindustan Times learns that the senate confirmation for US ambassador designate to India Kenneth Juster will go through before the Modi-trump meeting in Manila. Trump’s daughter and adviser Ivanka Trump is scheduled to attend the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Hyderabad on November 28-30, which will be inaugurated by Modi.

Experts say bilateral relations between the two countries are becoming stronger and point to the revival of the umbrella Defence Policy Group (DPG) dialogue that will happen soon. US undersecretary of defence John Rood, a key player in the India-us nuclear deal, is going through the senate confirmation process and the stage is set for the DPG’S revival with his counterpart, India’s defence secretary Sanjay Mitra. The joint technical group meeting between the Defence Research and Development Organisation and its Pentagon counterpart is scheduled next week. The date and timing of the meetings of the foreign and defence ministers of the two countries under the so-called two plus two rubric next year is also to be finalised soon.

However, the key focus of the Modi-trump meeting will be the Indo-pacific, with Asean countries largely impacted by aggressive Chinese behaviour in the South China Sea. The two strate-