Close X
Saturday, November 23, 2024
ADVT 
International

Modi Writes Another Success Story With Love Fest In America

Darpan News Desk IANS, 29 Sep, 2015 12:16 PM
  • Modi Writes Another Success Story With Love Fest In America
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrapped up yet another hugely successful visit to the US with a warm hug for President Barack Obama, a courtship with Silicon valley and a love fest with the Indian diaspora.
 
As Obama said after an hour-long meeting in New York on Monday with "good friend" Modi, building on his "wonderful visit" to Delhi in January, "We've elevated our ties. We've committed ourselves to a new partnership between our two countries."
 
Modi agreed they had "achieved significant progress in our bilateral cooperation and international partnership" and welcomed "the progress in giving shape to our joint strategic vision on Asia Pacific and Indian Ocean region".
 
As anticipated, Obama chose to focus on climate issues. India's leadership at the Paris climate change conference in December, he believed, "will set the tone not just for today but for decades to come".
 
Obama said he was encouraged by "the aggressive nature" of Modi's commitment to clean energy,
 
Modi said he and Obama "share an uncompromising commitment on climate change without affecting our ability to meet the development aspirations of humanity".
 
But Modi also made it clear to Obama, French British Francois Hollande and British Prime Minister David Cameron, whom he met separately, that a negative approach of capping emissions or adding restrictions was not going to help. Instead a positive approach that includes help for developing countries like financing and technology transfer was needed, he said.
 
 
Modi also won renewed support from the big three for India getting a permanent seat in the Security Council and asked them to have the UN reform process completed within a "fixed time frame".
 
Modi said after meeting with Obama "we have resolved to further deepen cooperation on counter-terrorism and radicalism".
 
But beyond the power meetings with Obama and other world leaders, the real measure of Modi's success was writ in his wooing the big business and winning over the tech titans of Silicon Valley. 
 
From Satya Nadella and Sundar Pichai, Indian-American chief executives of Microsoft and Google to Apple's Tim Cook and Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg everyone seemed keen to get behind Modi's digital dream.
 
If Pichai offered to bring wireless Internet or WiFi to 500 railway stations across India, Nadella outlined Microsoft's plan to help Indian government take low-cost broadband to half a million villages.
 
 
Qualcomm promised a 10 billion rupee fund for startups in India "to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy".
 
It will also set up a number of 'design houses' for product innovation in India.
 
And selling his dream of turning India's $8 trillion economy into a $20 trillion economy at a Facebook Townhall with a promise of four Ds -- demography, democracy, demand and now de-regulation -- he told investors: "Want to Invest? I Have an Address - India."
 
But it was the rock star like reception he received in Silicon valley reminiscent of the "Madison Square Garden moment" on the eve of his summit with Obama last year that wowed them all.
 
Modi "wooed and wowed the tech crowd" and "conquered" Silicon Valley, as the influential New York Times put it.
 
 
Modi's trip, said the Washington Post, had made Silicon Valley "a must-see destination for world leaders" and "signals the rising influence and economic power wielded by this technology hotbed."

MORE International ARTICLES

US-India Trade Body Fully Backs Modi's Digital Initiatives

US-India Trade Body Fully Backs Modi's Digital Initiatives
Modi's goal of making India a top 50 country for ease of doing business "will be instrumental to attracting greater foreign investment to the country",

US-India Trade Body Fully Backs Modi's Digital Initiatives

Boy, 9, Identified By Coroner As Victim Of ATV Accident In B.C. Interior

Boy, 9, Identified By Coroner As Victim Of ATV Accident In B.C. Interior
KELOWNA, B.C. — The coroners service has named the nine-year-old boy who died as a result of an ATV accident in British Columbia's Interior.

Boy, 9, Identified By Coroner As Victim Of ATV Accident In B.C. Interior

Shocking Racial Abuse On US Campus Against Indian-Origin Student Rini Sampath Fuels Debate

Shocking Racial Abuse On US Campus Against Indian-Origin Student Rini Sampath Fuels Debate
Last week, a USC fraternity member hurled a racial epithet -- "You Indian piece of s**t" -- and threw his drink at Rini Sampath, student body president at the university

Shocking Racial Abuse On US Campus Against Indian-Origin Student Rini Sampath Fuels Debate

Indian Doctor Under Probe Over Cancer Treatment In Britain

Indian Doctor Under Probe Over Cancer Treatment In Britain
An Indian-origin doctor in Britain has been suspended and is facing an investigation over the treatment he gave to cancer patients, a media report said.

Indian Doctor Under Probe Over Cancer Treatment In Britain

US Court Orders Mediation Over Indian Couple's Autistic Son

US Court Orders Mediation Over Indian Couple's Autistic Son
A court in the US state of California has ordered the Indian-origin parents of a boy with autism and their neighbours into mediation, after a lawsuit was filed against the Indian couple alleging that their son was a public nuisance

US Court Orders Mediation Over Indian Couple's Autistic Son

Indian Man Stabbed By Filipino Over 'Stinky' Shoes In Milan, Italy

Indian Man Stabbed By Filipino Over 'Stinky' Shoes In Milan, Italy
He was taken to Milan's Niguarda hospital where he underwent surgery and suffered four heart attacks.

Indian Man Stabbed By Filipino Over 'Stinky' Shoes In Milan, Italy