India, Japan to hold first economic dialogue
NEW DELHI: India and Japan will hold their first economic dialogue and sixth strategic talks on Monday to impart a renewed momentum to burgeoning multi-faceted ties and to resolve issues for starting civil nuclear cooperation between them.
External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna will co-chair the two dialogues with his Japanese counterpart Koichiro Gemba, who began a two-day visit to New Delhi Sunday evening.
The strategic dialogue will encompass a range of bilateral and global issues, including the prospects of civil nuclear cooperation, maritime security and the evolving East Asia regional security architecture.
"In the strategic dialogue, the two sides will review all aspects of the bilateral strategic and global partnership and discuss regional and international issues of mutual interest," said the External Affairs Ministry ahead of the talks.
During his visit to India December last year, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda allayed New Delhi's apprehensions regarding nuclear cooperation in the wake of the Fukushima disaster and indicated that the two countries will go ahead with negotiations after taking into consideration the safety aspects.
"We shall proceed with the negotiations on the [civil nuclear] agreement after giving due consideration to nuclear safety, nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation," Noda had said at a joint press conference with Dr. Manmohan Singh after the talks. India will, however, have to address Japan's non-proliferation concerns anew to pursue a bilateral civil nuclear deal for which three rounds of negotiations have been held.
Many senior ministers and officials from both India and Japan will participate in the ministerial-level economic dialogue, a new initiative that enjoys the backing of the prime ministers of the two countries.
Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma and Japan's Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yukio Edano will participate in the economic dialogue.
The two sides will also hold a separate energy dialogue, to be led by Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia from the Indian side, to explore ways to enhance cooperation in renewable energy and clean coal technologies.
The economic dialogue is aimed at imparting "strategic and long-term policy orientation to their bilateral economic engagement and to coordinate economic issues of cross-cutting nature, including infrastructure development and financing."
The dialogue will focus on expanding trade and investment which got a big boost after the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement came into force Aug 1 last year. Bilateral trade is currently around $15 billion, with both sides setting a target of $25 billion by 2014.
President Pratibha Patil defends her foreign trips, says they were crucial for building ties
ON BOARD PRESIDENT'S SPECIAL AIRCRAFT: As she embarked on her last tour abroad as President, Pratibha Patil today dismissed criticism over a large number of foreign visits undertaken by her, insisting that they were not on her own volition but at the request of the government to promote India's relations.
"Government wanted me to visit two-three more countries, but it was not possible due to paucity of time," she told reporters accompanying her in her state visits toSeychelles and South Africa as part of "our efforts to further consolidate our ties with Africa...(which) occupies an important place in India's foreign policy".
Patil's term as President is ending on July 25. The President's refrain was that in an interdependent world, no country can remain in its own cocoon and it was necessary for countries to increase engagement with others.
Noting that India was elected as non-Permanent member of the UN Security Council with an "overwhelming majority", she said that for this it was "very necessary" to make new friends and promote ties with the old ones.
Asked as to how would she describe her 22 foreign visits so far, she remarked that they have been "very successful" in promoting India's growing image abroad and strengthen the country's ties with those nations which she visited.
Elaborating on the different kind of ties in a fast changing world, she said the relations between countries were no longer only political in nature, but have different aspects like economic, educational and cultural.
She said that in such a scenario, high-level visits help in strengthening and furthering ties.
From Hillary Clinton to Romney's dog, Obama pokes fun at all
WASHINGTON: President Barack Obamaturned comic for a night to poke fun at everything, from the Secret Service scandal to his top diplomat Hillary Clinton, to his likely Republican rival Mitt Romney's dog.
Obama's joke about Romney's dog Seamus at the annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner Saturday night recalled a spoof political ad that took aim at Romney for admitting he once put his family dog in a cage and perched it on the top of his car.
"I know everybody is predicting a nasty election, and thankfully, we've all agreed that families are off-limits," Obama said. "Dogs, however, are apparently fair game."
His punch line showed an ad by a phony political group that featured Romney on Air Force One with a dog cage on top of the aircraft and promoted dog freedoms, while warning of Obama's policy of dog socialism.
"Under his leadership, man's best friend has been forced into automobiles. Imagine the European-style socialism that he has planned for the next four years," the spoof ad said.
The president even poked fun at himself over recent criticism by the Romney campaign about revelations in his book, "Dreams From My Father", where he revealed he was fed dog meat as a boy in Indonesia.
"That's pretty rough. But I can take it, because my stepfather always told me, it's a boy-eat-dog world out there," Obama said.
Taking a dig at his 2008 rival turned secretary of state, he recalled: "Four years ago, I was in a brutal primary battle with Hillary Clinton. Four years later, she won't stop drunk texting me from Cartagena," a reference to the Colombian city where Secret Service agents allegedly consorted with prostitutes.
Obama also took aim at the scandal itself: "I had a lot more material prepared, but I have to get the Secret Service home in time for their new curfew."
The dinner was Obama's fourth as president. It has been a ritual in Washington since 1920, when it was first held to boost communication between the press and the president.
Louisiana's Indian American governor Bobby Jindal and his wife Supriya were among a host of celebrity attendees.
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