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Modi-Obama Meeting to Address Economic Ties, Security, Climate Change

LALIT K. JHA and YOSHITA SINGH, PT, Posted: Friday, September 25, 2015 3:30 pm, Source

NEW YORK — U.S. President Barack Obama will meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sept. 28, giving the two leaders an opportunity to build on their economic ties and advance political and security cooperation in Asia and around the world, the White House has said.

“We are deeply committed to strengthening the U.S.-Indian relationship, building our economic and commercial ties, and advancing our political and security cooperation in Asia and around the world,” Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes said Sept. 24.

The meeting will give the two leaders an opportunity to build on the discussions they had in New Delhi in January when Obama traveled to India to attend the Republic Day Parade as its chief guest, he said.

“This will give the two leaders an opportunity to build on the discussions they had earlier this year during the President’s historic trip to India,” Rhodes said.

“Notably, India will be critical to a successful global effort to combat climate change, so the two leaders will certainly address their shared vision of how to approach the upcoming meetings in Paris,” he said, while giving details of the much-anticipated Obama-Modi meeting in New York next week.

Modi arrived here on the night of Sept. 23 on a six-day official visit during which he will travel to Silicon Valley Sept. 26 to meet the top IT CEOs of the region and address a meeting of some 18,000 Indian Americans Sept. 27.

Rhodes said Obama’s engagements at the United Nations will focus largely on climate change. This includes his meeting with Modi.

“The President’s meeting with Prime Minister Modi will be very important, because India, of course, is also another major economy — a major emitter — and we’ll want to continue the discussions that we had in India about what Prime Minister Modi is prepared to do to support successful international action against climate change,” Rhodes said.

A day earlier, Indian Ambassador to the U.S. Arun K. Singh said during the meeting that the two leaders will discuss bilateral, regional and global issues. This is the third one-on-one meeting between the two leaders after Modi came to power in May last year.

“They (Modi and Obama) will discuss a range of bilateral, regional and global issues. Economic engagement will certainly be a part of the things being discussed,” Singh had said.

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President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seen at a joint press conference at Hyderabad House in New Delhi Jan. 26, will meet again Sept. 28 in New York to discuss bilateral, regional and global issues. (Pankaj Nangia/India Today Group/Getty Images)

9/25/1511:42 PM

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UNITED NATIONS — Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sept. 25 pitched for reform of the UN Security Council, saying it was essential for the world body to inspire confidence and be relevant in the current world realities.

“70 years back, when the horrific second World War came to an end, this organization came into being, raising hopes of people around the world. We have gathered here to decide a new direction,” he said addressing the UN General Assembly session.

Talking about the global challenges and problems, Modi said, “We need UN reforms so that it inspires confidence and becomes relevant to the current world realities.”

His pitch for UNSC reforms comes amidst India’s strong bid for a permanent seat in the expanded powerful world body.

Modi asserted that the global challenges like climate change and sustainable development are the collective responsibility of all nations as no nation can be immune to any kind of threat.

Modi talked about the need for eradicating poverty and ensuring development as he highlighted that 1.3 billion people around the world are forced to live in poverty.

On the issue of climate change, he maintained that common but differentiated responsibility is the basis for dealing with this challenge.

In this context, he asked the developed nations to fulfill their responsibility of sharing technology, innovation and finances with the developing countries without having any “selfish interest.”

Here are the key highlights of his speech:

We are working on financial inclusion in a very big way
We are working towards making agriculture more productive and helping farmers suffering from natural adversities
It’s either “public sector” or “private sector” that is discussed. We came up with “personal sector.” Individual enterprises constitute the “personal sector”
Education and skill development is our priority. We want to empower the poor. We worked on financial inclusion in mission mode
Women empowerment is an essential part of our plan: Prime Minister Modi
If we all want the world to be peaceful and development for the world, poverty needs to be tackled
The world is connected and dependent on each other. Our international partnerships need to be centered on progress of humanity
The principle of common but differentiated responsibilities is the bedrock of our enterprise for a sustainable world
We need to create a world where everyone feels safe, is respected and has opportunities to grow
Our international relations need to keep development of the mankind at the center
I hope that technology facilitation, technology innovation will contribute a lot to the development of the world
A global education program needs to be started so that future generations learn to form a relationship with Nature.