Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will have a 45-minute discussion with US President Barack Obama at 10 pm (IST) on April 2 but it will not be a one-on-one meeting as suggested earlier. Washington has preferred that high-ranking officials from both sides be present in the first meeting between the two leaders. According to government officials,top of the agenda at the meeting are the extent and nature of the stimulus required to pull the global economy out of its current morass and Washingtons new Afghanistan-Pakistan policy. Half a dozen US officials,including Obamas National Security Advisor James Jones,Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner will meet Singh who will be accompanied at the talks by Deputy Chairman,Planning Commission,Montek Singh Ahluwalia; Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon and NSA M K Narayanan. An official said that India is looking forward to more clarity on the Af-Pak policy and the first-hand view of its contours. The policy is just being rolled out,the US will spell out the details today,including the mandate of the contact group. We have said that it will be very useful. And that Iran can be a major factor of stability. Before landing in London late tonight,Singh said: This will be our first meeting (with Obama) and will be an opportunity for us to review our bilateral relations,as well as hold discussions on important regional and global issues such as terrorism,the situation in Afghanistan,energy security and climate change. On the G20 summit,India will judge its outcome by its ability to announce meaningful short-term measures to pull the world out of recession,it is not quite in favour of big dramatic ideas put forth by the Chinese and the Russians such as a new global currency to replace the dollar or that of the Europeans pushing for a global financial regulator. Singh said: There are some issues which require particular focus such as the need to ensure adequate flow of finances and avoid protectionism in the trade of goods and services and reform of the international financial institutions. Its time that the global financial architecture reflect contemporary economic strengths,he added. As far as its position on a new global currency is concerned,India feels that unless the quota of developing countries increases significantly,it does not make sense to cede control of the powers to contract or expand money supply to any other international authority. Ahluwalia,who left yesterday for the G20 finance ministers meeting,said,It is true that the logic of the dollar as a stable currency does not hold now. But before we talk of a new global currency,our stakes in the proposed institution must go up substantially.
