Political India: Engaging America

Labels: Israeli settlement activity, United Nations Security Council, UNSC, West Bank

From The Hindu

The United States’ support for India’s candidacy for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council is consistent with U.S. interest in seeing India sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) according to a State Department spokesman.

In response to a question on how the U.S. could reconcile its position on India signing the NPT with its support for India’s UNSC seat, Philip Crowley, Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, said, “We do not see those (goals) as being at odds.”

When asked whether India’s candidacy should be looked at equally with countries such as Japan, which has forsworn nuclear weapons entirely, or South Africa, which has given up nuclear weapons, Mr. Crowley said that India had shown itself to be a “responsible global stakeholder”.

He added that President Barack Obama had announced the U.S. position on the matter during his recent visit to the country, however emphasising that U.S. support for India on this issue was “not exclusive of our support for other countries” as well.

On the questions of non-proliferation and disarmament, Mr. Crowley reiterated that there had been no change in the U.S. position. “President Obama’s April 2009 speech in Prague envisioned a world without nuclear weapons,” he said, and given that the U.S. and India shared this vision, the two countries would continue to work together toward that goal.

“There is absolutely no contradiction between that recognition and U.S. commitment to the NPT,” Mr. Crowley noted, adding also that the U.S. was supportive of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty as well, even if India had reached an agreement with the Nuclear Suppliers Group for the transfer of civilian nuclear technology.

In the context of non-proliferation treaties, Mr. Crowley also pointed out that the State Department had been encouraging Pakistan to sign on to the Fissile Material Cut-off regime.

Labels: nuclear weapons, United Nations Security Council, United States-India relations

From The Hindu

With an eye on the approaching India visit of United States President Barack Obama, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee expressed hope that India would be made a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, and that despite the global economic slowdown the Indian government would neither curb foreign investment flows nor allow itself to slip into an inflationary crisis.

Mr. Mukherjee also tacitly advanced arguments to quash any notion that outsourcing of economic activities to India adversely affecting the U.S.. He said that trade between India and the U.S. had more than doubled between 2004 and 2008 and as Indian companies sought to position themselves better in the global market place, they have invested over $25 billion between 2004 and 2009 in the U.S., “creating jobs and prosperity.”

Regarding the UNSC Mr. Mukherjee said, “I do hope that as and when the expanded Security Council along with the general reforms of the United Nations takes place, India’s claim for being a permanent member of the Security Council will be considered and accepted.” In his speech on Thursday he further said that international financial institutions needed to reflect in their functioning the realities on the ground and pressed for a “more dynamic and equitable economic architecture for global trade and sustained growth.”

While the Minister emphasised lessons learned in the aftermath of the global economic slowdown, for example regarding the need for financial market regulation, he, however, equally assured the attendees at an event at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington that he did not consider Foreign Institutional Investment and Foreign Direct Investment flows to be too volatile presently.

Mr. Mukherjee added that while it was the responsibility of the Reserve Bank of India to “watch the situation and as and when it is necessary to intervene appropriately,” he did not believe that the inflow of FII or FDI had distorted the market sentiments. “Therefore there is no question of putting any cap,” on such flows, he noted.

Responding to a question on whether inflation risk had become worrisome in the Indian economy, Mr. Mukherjee struck a cautious note. He said, “I do agree that there is an inflationary pressure in the system and you will have to agree with me that when we have massive financial expansions we cannot expect to have non-inflationary impact on the economy at all.”

He admitted that he was particularly concerned about inflationary pressures on food items, and in this area the Indian government had taken steps to improve the supply side by importing scarce goods. Overall, he said, the government was following a policy trajectory that sought to strike a balance, “so that the growth is not retarded and at the same time the inflationary pressure is being reduced.” This ought to produce an end-of-financial-year inflation rate of “around six per cent,” he said.

Mr. Mukherjee also highlighted a recently concluded agreement between India and Switzerland relating to double-taxation avoidance. The Minister noted that in order to introduce an amendment to a clause in the agreement, concerning the exchange of relevant information between the two countries, there had been an ongoing bilateral dialogue. However, the negotiations had recently been completed and India was now awaiting the ratification of this agreement as per Swiss laws, he added.

Labels: India, India-US ties, Pranab Mukherjee, United Nations Security Council

From The Hindu

U.S. Treasury clamps down on its finances

In a swift follow-up move after the passage of the United Nations Security Council sanctions resolution against Iran earlier this month, the United States Treasury announced the first set of sanctions designations “targeting Iran's nuclear and missile programmes”.

The Treasury said the sanctions it had announced targeted in particular “Iran's use of its financial sector, shipping industry and Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps to carry out and mask its proliferation activities.”

The Treasury said that under Executive Order 13382 of UNSCR 1929, which permitted the freezing of assets of Iran, it had designated the following Iranian institutions: Post Bank of Iran for its links to Bank Sepah; Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) entities and individuals; the IRGC Air Force and IRGC Missile Command (both of which were alleged to have ties to Iran's ballistic missile programme); Rah Sahel and Sepanir Oil and Gas Engineering Co. for alleged ties to previously designated Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Headquarters; five Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) front companies; and numerous individuals for their roles in the IRGC and in Iran's alleged weapons programmes.

The Treasury said that it had also 27 vessels blocked because of their connection to IRISL and updated the entries for 71 already-blocked IRISL vessels to identify new names given to these vessels as part of IRISL's efforts to evade sanctions.

Further, it identified 22 entities in the insurance, petroleum and petrochemicals industries determined to be owned or controlled by the Government of Iran by adding them to Appendix A of the Iranian Transactions Regulations (ITR). The ITR prohibit transactions between U.S. persons and the Government of Iran. As a result of these designations, the Treasury said, “all transactions involving any of the designees and any U.S. person are prohibited, and any assets the designees may have under U.S. jurisdiction are frozen.”

Labels: missile programmes, sanctions resolution, United Nations Security Council, United States Treasury

From The Hindu

“India’s expanding global role will naturally make it an important part of any future consideration of reform of the United Nations Security Council,” said William Burns, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs.

Speaking at a seminar prior to the start of this week’s United States-India Strategic Dialogue, Mr. Burns noted that reform of the UNSC, similar to other structures of the international architecture, was an issue that needed to be addressed so that it reflected the realities of 2010 rather than 1945.

He argued that in this context, the U.S. recognised India’s “increasing global role” and was “open to expansion of permanent membership of the Council”.

However Mr. Burns said that reform of the UNSC would have to be undertaken “in a way which is going to preserve the effectiveness of the Security Council”.

Further, in response to questions, Mr. Burns emphasised that “for countries like India… we need very much to consider how their increasing role in global affairs is matched by the responsibilities that they can discharge in the most important parts of the international architecture”.

He also noted that “the U.S. strongly supported the recent expansion in India’s World Bank voting share”, which occurred during the World Bank-IMF Spring Meetings held earlier this year.

Labels: Strategic Dialogue, United Nations Security Council, UNSC, William Burns