This Google Hangout event is online only. Viewers in India can tune in from 6:00 to 6:30 p.m. Indian Standard Time.
Event Summary
On Friday, the same day Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in the US, AEI’s Sadanand Dhume hosted a Google Hangout discussion with experts from the US and India to discuss whether his visit could restore the once-dynamic US-India relationship. Richard Fontaine of the Center for a New American Security began the conversation by arguing that an immediate turnaround in US-India relations is unlikely. Nonetheless, he cited Modi’s visit as a chance for both sides to work toward a closer partnership, especially on economic and defense issues.
Nitin Pai of the Takshashila Institution explained that while Modi’s strategy has largely focused on pushing for economic growth at home, the prime minister also has geoeconomic and geopolitical aspirations, which is good news for US-India relations. Pai argued that Modi’s military modernization goals can be met through greater defense procurement from partners such as the United States.
Adam Roberts of The Economist stressed that Modi’s goal to revive India’s economy drives his visits abroad, which offer an opportunity to woo foreign investors. He highlighted that although the personal chemistry between Obama and Modi may not be fantastic, the natural affinity between the American and Indian populations is something to count on.
— Hemal Shah
Event Description
On Monday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the White House for his first meeting with President Barack Obama. Elected with a large popular mandate in May, Modi says that a strong economy is the driver of an effective foreign policy. With India’s economy on the path to recovery, can Modi’s visit help put US-India relations — marked recently by drift and disagreement — back on track to being what Obama once called “one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century”?
Tune in for this Google Hangout discussion with three leading experts about the implications of the Obama-Modi summit.
Tweet your questions and comments to @AEI with #ModiInUS.
To join the Hangout, click here on September 26 at 8:30 AM ET/6:00 PM IST. Registration is not required.
8:30 AM
Panelists:
Richard Fontaine, Center for a New American Security
Nitin Pai, Takshashila Institution
Adam Roberts, The Economist
Moderator:
Sadanand Dhume, AEI
9:00 AM
Adjournment
For more information, please contact Hemal Shah at [email protected], 202.862.5889.
Speaker Biographies
Sadanand Dhume is a resident fellow at AEI. He writes about South Asian political economy, foreign policy, business, and society, with a focus on India and Pakistan. He is also a South Asia columnist for the Wall Street Journal. He has worked as a foreign correspondent for the Far Eastern Economic Review in India and Indonesia and was a Bernard Schwartz Fellow at the Asia Society in Washington, DC. His political travelogue about the rise of radical Islam in Indonesia, “My Friend the Fanatic: Travels with a Radical Islamist” (Skyhorse Publishing, 2009) has been published in four countries. He has twice been selected by Foreign Policy magazine as one of the world’s top 100 Twitterati. Follow him on Twitter @dhume.
Richard Fontaine is the president of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), where he was senior adviser and senior fellow from 2009 to 2012. He served as foreign policy adviser to Senator John McCain (R-AZ) for more than five years, including during the 2008 presidential campaign and as the minority deputy staff director on the Senate Armed Services Committee. He also served as associate director for near eastern affairs on the National Security Council from 2003 to 2004 and in the office of Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage. Fontaine began his career as a staff member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Nitin Pai is a cofounder of the Takshashila Institution, an independent, nonpartisan think tank and school of public policy in India. His policy research areas are geopolitics, strategy, national security, and social capital. Pai spent more than a decade working in the Singapore government in various capacities, including in deregulation, broadband infrastructure development, and strategic technology foresight. Earlier in his career, he designed part of a satellite payload, bits of radio-frequency equipment, and was involved in building India’s first private undersea cable.
Adam Roberts is a New Delhi–based South Asia correspondent for The Economist, overseeing political and general coverage from countries including India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal. He joined The Economist as a writer in the foreign department in June 1998, focusing particularly on developing countries and transnational issues. After working as The Economist’s Southern Africa correspondent from 2001 to 2005, Roberts served as the news editor of Economist.com until 2010. He has written special reports on Nordic countries and international migration and has also authored the book “The Wonga Coup” (PublicAffairs, 2007).
