Modi has demonstrated that he is willing to tackle serious legislative reform, says the director of the South Asia Center at the Atlantic Council.
By Raif Karerat
Bharath Gopalaswamy is the director of the South Asia Center at the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC. Previously, he managed the Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he oversaw developing projects on South Asian security issues. In an interview with The American Bazaar, Dr. Gopalaswamy talks about US-India relations and various initiatives of the Council, among other topics.
Prime Minister Modi will be in Washington next week. Do you expect any major announcements during the visit?
There is no agenda item on PM Modi’s trip that would suggest any major announcements. Modi’s trip to the US signals the growing relationship between the US and India. Relations are undoubtedly on a positive trajectory.
The Narendra Modi government has completed two years in office. When the BJP won the general elections in 2014, there were a lot of expectations here in the United States. Do you think Modi has fulfilled the expectations?
Expectations were so inflated, and the bar was so high, when Modi assumed his office that I don’t think any PM could reach them. However, Modi has demonstrated in his tenure thus far that he is willing to tackle serious legislative reform to embolden India’s economy, as well as an appetite for global diplomacy that will serve India’s ambitions to be a leading power well.
The Atlantic Council recently launched the U.S.-India Trade Initiative. Can you tell us more about it?
The Atlantic Council US-India Trade Initiative aims to generate American support for continued economic engagement in India and to forge collaboration on issues of trade and commerce. The Initiative will address seven of the most crucial areas of the US-India trade relationship, including smart cities, infrastructure, defense, financial institutions, insurance, trade agreements, and intellectual property rights. The initiative was launched on April 25, 2016 with an event featuring US Senator John Cornyn (R-TX); US Senator Mark Warner (D-VA); Indian Ambassador to the United States Arun Singh; Atlantic Council Chairman Jon M. Huntsman, Jr.; and Atlantic Council President and CEO Frederick Kempe.
Defense is one of the areas you have worked a great deal on. Despite a lot of cooperation between the defense forces of the two countries, U.S.-India defense trade has not caught up with the cooperation in some other areas. What are the reasons in your opinion?
I would disagree with the premise of the question. Defense trade between the United States and India is one of the exemplary sectors in the bilateral economic relationship.
Earlier this year the joint Indo-Russian fifth generation fighter jet program, known as the Perspective Multi-role Fighter (PMF) in India, was touted as being on the verge of collapse due to fundamental disagreements over work and cost share, aircraft technology, as well as the number of aircraft to be ordered. What is the current status of the project, and has military-industrial cooperation between India and Russia actively affected bilateral relations between India and the US?
India’s fleet of Soviet weaponry ages presents enormous opportunity to the US defense companies. It will take time, but India will look to the US for their defense needs over Russia.
Does the United States want to groom India as a defensive and economic hedge against China’s growing sphere of influence?
The US has an interest in supporting India’s emergence on the global scene as a partner to tackle global issues. China’s rise does not seem to be the impetus of US economic, military and diplomatic investment in India, although it may have sped things along.
The Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center encompasses initiatives including the Iran Task Force, the Emerging Leaders of Pakistan program, and the Afghanistan Rising: Sustaining Success in Afghanistan. Can you elaborate on those programs?
After over 30 years of relative isolation and intensifying sanctions, Iran is entering a new phase in its international relations with uncertain consequences for the Middle East and beyond. The possibility of sanctions relief presents Iran with the opportunity to re-calculate its policy choices—whether toward collaboration with its neighbors and the world community or toward greater provocation and aggression. The Initiative will provide a political safe space and a rigorously analytical point of departure in which both the most skeptical critics and the most optimistic assessors of Iran’s intentions and ambitions can work together to build a bipartisan consensus within the US and a path forward in strengthening regional and global security and prosperity.
The Afghanistan Rising initiative seeks to solidify international support for Afghanistan as the new government takes steps necessary to meet the country’s security, development and economic challenges. The initiative will tap into the Atlantic Council’s extensive network to convene thought leadership and policy-makers from all over the world to help clarify issues and policy options, to generate public and political support for continued investment, and to sustain and accelerate the momentum required to generate impactful change in the country. Increasingly, the Afghanistan Rising Initiative will look at economic development as a means to promote a more stable security situation in the country.
How healthy is India’s startup scene in comparison to that of the United States?
India’s startup culture is growing and becoming increasingly critical driver of economic growth. It is in its nascent stages in comparison to the US start up scene but there is much reason for optimism.