Obama to visit India in January
November 21, 2014, 7:08 pm

Modi faces strong challenges, including an uphill task of easing trade spats with America ranging from protectionism to patent rights AP]

A week after a deadlock ended with India’s assent to a WTO trade deal, US President Barack Obama has announced he will visit New Delhi in January to attend the 66^th Republic Day celebrations on 26^th January.

“At the invitation of Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi, the President will travel to India in January 2015 to participate in the Indian Republic Day celebration in New Delhi as the Chief Guest,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said on Friday.

“This visit will mark the first time a US president will have the honour of attending Republic Day, which commemorates the adoption of India’s Constitution,” Earnest said.

Earlier this month New Delhi said it will ratify a landmark world trade treaty deal, which it scuttled earlier in July this year, paving the way for consensus on the first global trade reform since the creation of the WTO 19 years ago.

“The president will meet with the prime minister and Indian officials to strengthen and expand the US-India strategic partnership,” Earnest said.

Obama travelled to Mumbai and New Delhi in November 2010.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has met US President Barack Obama in Washington in September where both leaders discussed ways to reinvigorate Indo-US ties.

“We will support an open and inclusive rules-based global order, in which India assumes greater multilateral responsibility, including in a reformed United Nations Security Council. At the United Nations and beyond, our close coordination will lead to a more secure and just world,” said a joint vision statement released by the Indian Prime Minister’s Office.

India-US trade reached an all-time high of over $63.7 billion in 2013, with a nearly $20 billion balance in favour of India, official figures released for the year disclosed in February this year.

Modi faces strong challenges, including an uphill task of easing trade spats with America ranging from protectionism to patent rights.

Modi was barred from the US less than 10 years ago due to riots under his watch in his home state of Gujarat in 2002.

The administration of President George W. Bush denied Modi a visa in 2005 under a 1998 US law barring entry to foreigners who have committed “particularly severe violations of religious freedom.”

TBP