Re-igniting India-US ties: Trump ‘looks forward’ to hosting Modi
It promises to be the big-ticket diplomatic meeting of the year for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The dates are not out yet, but the White House has already struck an upbeat note, saying US President Donald Trump looks forward to hosting the Indian leader.
“President Trump has said he looks forward to hosting Prime Minister Modi in Washington later this year,” a White House statement said on March 29, following a telephonic conversation initiated by Mr Trump the day before to congratulate Mr Modi on the Bharatiya Janata Party’s sweeping victory in elections to legislatures in four Indian states, including the country’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh. “President Trump also expressed support for the Prime Minister’s economic reform agenda and emphasized his great respect for the people of India,” said the statement.
Although Mr Modi and Mr Trump may have a brief meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit of the world’s major and emerging economies in Germany in July this year, it will be the Indian prime minister’s first bilateral visit to the US after the change of guard in Washington in January this year.
With China on mind, fresh fuel to India-Nepal energy ties
With China at the back of its mind, India has agreed to deepen energy ties by renewing its fuel sale deal with Nepal by another five years and assist the Himalayan country in implementing a cooking gas-for-the-poor scheme akin to the one launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh.
As per the agreement signed in New Delhi on March 27 by Indian Oil Corp. and Nepal Oil Corp. in the presence of Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Nepal’s Minister for Supplies Deepak Bohara, the state-owned Indian energy giant will supply about 1.3 million tonnes of fuel every year for the next five years. India has been supplying fuel to Nepal since 1974 under contracts that were periodically renewed. Indian Oil chairman B. Ashok, who was present on the occasion, said the renewed deal is for the period from April 2017 to March 2022 covering petrol, diesel, kerosene, jet fuel and liquified petroleum gas (LPG).