CNAS Policy Brief: Seizing the Modi Moment in U.S.-India Relations

Washington, September 22, 2014 -- Center for a New American Security (CNAS) President Richard Fontaine has written a new policy brief, Seizing the Modi Moment: Reenergizing U.S.-India Ties on the Eve of the Prime Minister’s Visit. The brief offers an agenda of deepened strategic ties between the two countries in anticipation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the United States in late September.
 
The full report is available here: http://www.cnas.org/seizing-the-modi-moment.
 
In the brief, Mr. Fontaine describes Prime Minister Modi’s historic victory in India’s recent elections and his sweeping mandate for reform. Modi’s upcoming visit, Fontaine argues, presents an opportunity for movement on key issues in the U.S.-India relationship. But realism, not romanticism, should characterize relations between the two countries. The United States and India should pursue an ambitious but realistic agenda of deepened political, economic and security ties that would reflect the importance of the strategic partnership and reverberate in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond.
 
Mr. Fontaine offers a series of concrete recommendations for this agenda, including:

• Complete the Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) negotiations.
• Jumpstart trade liberalization talks.
• Complete implementation of the civil nuclear agreement.
• Renew and expand the Defense Framework Agreement.
• Deepen regional cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, including through dialogue on post-2016 Afghanistan and by reviving the U.S.-India-Japan-Australia Quadrilateral Security Dialogue.

Mr. Fontaine is available for interviews on the policy brief and the prime ministerial visit. To arrange an interview, please contact Neal Urwitz at [email protected] or call 202-457-9409.