India-US Relations: Post President Obama's Visit

 AMBASSADOR RONEN SEN

ON

INDIA-US RELATIONS: POST-PRESIDENT OBAMA’S VISIT

AT

JAMIA MILLIA ISLAMIA CENTRAL UNIVERSITY ON 7 DECEMBER, 2010
Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Najeeb Jung,

                    Joint Secretary, Navdeep Suri

Friends,

    I am honored to be in your midst at this august institution, the Jamia Millia Islamia Central University.  I have been asked to share some thoughts with you this afternoon on the current state of India-US relations, following the visit to India last month of President Barak Obama.  The views expressed by me are personal and, apart from my past experience, based on information in the public domain.  I was not even present in Delhi during the US President’s visit.

    Let me touch briefly on our relationship with the US before the visit.  These relations were given a major boost during the visit of President Bill Clinton to India towards the conclusion of his second term as President in 2000.  The relationship scaled unprecedented heights during the Presidency of George W. Bush, particularly during his second term in office.  This was manifested above all in the historic India-US civil nuclear deal, the unique single country specific exemption for India from the application of the guidelines of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) (which was discriminatory and intentionally so) and the approval of an Additional Protocol by Board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).  Another important milestone was the conclusion of a 10 year framework on Defence Cooperation by the two Defence Ministers in 1995.  There were several other initiatives for bilateral and global cooperation which transformed India-US relations to the most broad-based relationship that India has with any country in the world.  The strategic initiatives, including the nuclear deal, were first envisaged in the Next Steps of Strategic Partnership (NSSP) announced jointly by former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and President George Bush in January 2004.  It was strange that this visionary initiative of Shri Vajpayee was not recognised by his own party.  Prime Minister Manmonhan Singh’s sagacity and strategic foresight led him to stake the future of his government on this issue. It was also ironic that the major global implications of the deal were better realised by most countries abroad, including by China and Pakistan, than in our Parliament.  

Amb. Ronen Sen's Address at Jadavpur University

ADDRESS BY AMBASSADOR RONEN SEN ON

“MAKING AMERICAN INTEREST GROUPS APPRECIATE INDIA’S CONCERNS AND PRIORITIES: A PUBLIC DIPLOMACY EXERCISE ABROAD”

AT JADAVPUR UNIVERSITY

ON 13 SEPTEMBER 2010

Hon’ble Vice-Chancellor Prof. Pradeep Narayan Ghosh;

Hon’ble Professor Radharaman Chakrabarty, President of

the Jadavpur Association of International Relations;

Distinguished Members of the Faculty;

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am honoured to have the opportunity of addressing you at this highly reputed centre of learning in the fields of engineering, science and arts. I am aware that your university has one of the best departments on political science and international relations in our country, and that I am speaking to a knowledgeable and discerning audience.

I have been asked to speak to you this afternoon on our efforts in sensitizing US interest groups to appreciate India’s concerns and priorities, and to what extent this was a manifestation of a successful public diplomacy exercise abroad. Before I come to this subject, I would like to make some general observations.

In one sense, the term “public diplomacy” is an oxymoron, a fundamental contradiction in both conceptual and practical terms. Each country seeks to pursue its own national interests, while preserving its independence of action and autonomy in decision-making. Ultimately, however, the most effective diplomacy is aimed at an optimal balance of maximizing its national security or socio-economic development objectives, while minimizing the corresponding dilution of national sovereignty. No amount of rhetorical posturing can alter this basic reality of international negotiations. This applies to all countries, large or small, though of course in varying degrees, with the rise and decline of the economic and strategic strength of individual countries or of regional groups. Concepts such as national autonomy or complete self-reliance have always been divorced from realities. This is all the more so in the process of globalisation, not only of markets but of global threats posed by failing States, religious extremism, terrorism, nuclear proliferation, climate change, pandemics and so on.