NEW DELHI -- President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday declared an era of "new trust" in the often fraught relationship between their nations as the U.S. leader opened a three-day visit to New Delhi.
Standing side by side at the stately Hyderabad House, Obama and Modi cited progress toward putting in place a civil nuclear agreement, as well as advances on climate change and defense ties.
But from the start, the day was more about putting their personal bond on display. Modi broke with protocol and wrapped Obama in a hug after Obama got off Air Force One.
Obama later told reporters that Modi's "strong personal commitment to the U.S.-India relationship gives us an opportunity to further energize these efforts."
Modi called Obama by his first name and said "the chemistry that has brought Barack and me closer has also brought Washington and Delhi closer."
Obama was to be the chief guest today at the annual Republic Day festivities, which mark the anniversary of India's democratic constitution coming into force. Obama is the first U.S. leader to attend the celebrations, which are part Soviet-style display of India's military hardware, part Macy's Thanksgiving Day-type parade with floats highlighting India's cultural diversity.
Obama's presence would have been unlikely only a few years ago.
Relations between the U.S. and India hit a low in 2013 after an Indian diplomat was arrested and strip-searched in New York over allegations that she lied on visa forms to bring her maid to the U.S. while paying the woman a pittance. The official's treatment caused anger in New Delhi, and India retaliated against U.S. diplomats.
The U.S. and India also were at an impasse over implementing the civil nuclear agreement signed in 2008. The U.S. insisted on tracking fissile material it supplied to India. Also, Washington was frustrated by Indian legal liability provisions that have discouraged U.S. companies from capitalizing on new energy development in India.
Though Obama said the two countries had taken an "important step," neither man provided details on how a 2005 U.S. decision to provide India nuclear fuel and reactor components would finally be implemented.
Stumbling blocks have long included Indian legislation allowing nuclear suppliers to be sued over accidents and U.S. insistence that any nuclear fuel sold to India be tracked to prevent weapons proliferation.
"We think we came to an understanding of the liability" issue, U.S. Ambassador Richard Verma said. The deal "now opens the door for U.S. and other companies to come forward and help India develop its nuclear, non-carbon-based energy production."
Power-starved India plans a $182 billion expansion of its nuclear industry to produce electricity for almost one-fourth of the country's 1.2 billion people, who routinely go without it. U.S. companies such as General Electric Co. and Westinghouse Electric Co. that have stayed away from India must decide whether the arrangement is adequate, Verma said.
Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser, said only that India "moved sufficiently on these issues to give us assurances that the issues are resolved."
India plans to establish a $122 million insurance pool to shield affected operators and suppliers, according to Amandeep Singh Gill, joint secretary of disarmament in the Foreign Ministry. The government would provide more at a later date "on a tapering basis," he added.
India is one of the few nations that do not exempt nuclear suppliers from accident liability. The reason can be found in the central Indian city of Bhopal, where more than 10,000 people were killed or injured in a 1984 chemical leak from a Union Carbide Corp. pesticide plant. The episode remains the world's worst industrial accident.
As part of the deal, the U.S. dropped its earlier insistence that it be able to track the nuclear material provided to India, a requirement that went beyond standard International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards, according to Indian media reports.
"Tracking was never going to fly as Indian public opinion would see it as intrusive," said K.C. Singh, a former diplomat.
The U.S. and India also agreed to extend a 10-year defense partnership deal and cooperate on the phase-down of hydrofluorocarbons, the greenhouse gases used for refrigeration and air conditioning.
But the climate agreement included mostly minor initiatives compared with the deal Obama made with China last November. The White House is hoping that the surprise deal with China late last year setting ambitious targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions will influence India and others.
Modi, however, rejected comparisons with China. "India is an independent country, and there is no pressure on us from any country or any person," he said.
Modi has already pledged that India will increase production of clean, solar-powered electricity to 100,000 megawatts by 2022, from 3,000 currently.
While India is the third-largest carbon polluter after China and the United States, it has argued that it should not have to limit its production of greenhouse gases because it is a developing country that historically has contributed little to the long-term problem and has hundreds of millions of people to lift out of poverty.
Previous climate accords, including the 1997 Kyoto protocol, required cuts only from developed nations. Since then, China surpassed the U.S. as the world's biggest polluter, and India's emissions increased rapidly. Bringing those two countries into the system that the United Nations envisions for Paris is essential to reaching an agreement that will involve 190 nations.
If Modi were to embrace the Paris process, the Obama administration and environmental groups have argued that it would be a significant shift that could build momentum for other countries to join the effort in a serious way. India is expected to issue a plan to reduce emission rates by June, and environmentalists hope that domestic backlash against urban pollution will pressure the government to be more ambitious, much as what happened in China.
"When we think about the future generations and what kind of a world we are going to give them, then there is pressure," Modi said in a news conference with Obama on Sunday. "Global warming is a huge pressure."
Obama said the two established a channel for them to talk about climate before the Paris meeting and that the U.S. will provide financial support for India's solar program.
"We very much support India's ambitious goal for solar energy and stand ready to speed this advancement with additional financing," Obama said during the news conference at Hyderabad House. "We're also launching new joint projects to improve air quality in Indian cities."
Modi said he asked Obama to lead an effort to make renewable energy more accessible and affordable worldwide.
The two leaders also issued a "joint strategic vision for the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean," which included an endorsement of freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.
Obama arrived Sunday morning to a capital whose normally bustling streets were empty. Police cleared sidewalks as Obama's motorcade sped to the presidential palace for a welcome ceremony. Obama then visited a memorial to the father of India's independence movement, Mohandas Gandhi, where he planted a tree. Obama's tree was planted on the other side of a walkway from one planted by former President Bill Clinton during his visit in 2000.
The president and first lady Michelle Obama were also hosted at a state dinner featuring a dance performance by a cultural group that also performed during Obama's 2010 visit to India.
Taking some of the luster off the trip, Obama does plan to cut it slightly short. Following a speech Tuesday morning, he will travel to Saudi Arabia to pay respects to the royal family following the death of King Abdullah.
In order to make the trip to Riyadh, Obama scrapped plans to visit India's famed white marble Taj Mahal.
Information for this article was contributed by Julie Pace and Muneeza Naqvi of The Associated Press; by Peter Baker, Ellen Barry, Hari Kumar and Coral Davenport of The New York Times; and by David J. Lynch, Angela Greiling Keane, Unni Krishnan, Archana Chaudhary, Rajesh Kumar Singh, Peter Burrows, Reed Landberg, Natalie Obiko Pearson and Alex Nussbaum of Bloomberg News.
A Section on 01/26/2015