The Hindu : Front Page : Manmohan declines Bush’s invitation

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Monday, Aug 06, 2007
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Manmohan declines Bush’s invitation

Sandeep Dikshit

Instead of visiting the Presidential ranch, he is likely to meet Bush in New York in September

NEW DELHI: After the successful wrapping up of the civil nuclear cooperation agreement with the U.S., Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has declined U.S. President George Bush’s invitation to visit his ranch later this month, said a senior U.S. diplomat who had earlier disclosed the invitation to The Hindu.

Instead, the Prime Minister was likely to meet Mr. Bush on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in September, he said.

“The invitation to the ranch is a sign of great affinity between the U.S. President and the head of state for the visiting country. But this is the kind of impression Dr. Singh wanted to avoid generating ahead of the mandatory visit to the U.S. for the U.N. General Assembly next month. He wouldn’t have wanted to go to the U.S. twice in as many months,” felt the diplomat said.

Another reason for not deciding to visit the Presidential ranch could have been American desire for some more breakthroughs in bilateral ties, especially in the areas of trade and commerce, he said. While extending the invitation to Dr. Singh in June in case the agreement on civil nuclear cooperation gets inked, the diplomat had said, “There can’t be a summit with nothing on the table. Apart from the civil nuclear deal, we would also be looking for agreements on other issues that are being discussed now.” The U.S. was looking for agreements that could open up trade and joint research in several areas, especially agriculture. A recent report by the office of the U.S. Trade Representative had listed several pending contentious trade issues. In addition, the U.S. is looking for greater defence equipment exports to India. Two U.S. companies were are in the race for the lucrative Rs. 42,000 crore tender for fighter aircraft but both the companies as well as U.S. officials have expressed reservations about some terms and conditions, especially the stipulation that half of the tender value — Rs. 21,000 crore — would have to be sourced from India, the diplomat said.

Dr. Singh has met Mr. Bush several times, both bilaterally and on the sidelines of multilateral meeting such as the G-8 summit. On one of his visits to the U.S., he was even accorded a 21-gun salute. Though the diplomat acknowledged that the professorial Indian Prime Minister was hardly suited to activities at the Presidential ranch such as jogging and log cutting, he said it was the U.S. President’s “special affinity” that had set off the offer.

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