Vice President Joe Biden arrives in India for 4-day visit
NEW DELHI, India — Vice President Joe Biden arrived in India on Monday afternoon, the first U.S. vice president to visit in decades. The four-day visit is designed to strengthen ties and lay the groundwork for a planned summit between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Obama this fall in Washington.
After meeting senior Indian officials in the capital of New Delhi, the vice president will travel to Mumbai, the nation’s financial hub, to deliver a speech urging both sides to boost economic ties well beyond the current $100 billion in annual U.S.–India trade.
Biden’s trip was announced last month during a visit to India by Secretary of State John Kerry.
Analysts and U.S. officials said they didn’t expect to see many “deliverables” – diplomat-speak for signed deals — emerge from Biden’s trip. Rather, they said, the visit would focus on tending the relationship, which has flagged in recent months as both countries prepare for elections in 2014 and U.S. companies grow frustrated over unlimited liability concerns associated with a civilian nuclear agreement and red tape.
The two sides are also expected to discuss Afghanistan. India is worried that the Taliban could return to power there after NATO combat troops depart in 2014. The hard-line Islamist Taliban was strongly allied with Pakistan before it was forced from power in 2001. India has contributed some $2 billion in aid projects to Afghanistan in recent years, but its activities are viewed warily by rival Pakistan.
In Mumbai on Wednesday, Biden is also expected to meet with business leaders, visit the stock exchange and push for stronger patent and copyright protections in the often freewheeling Indian market. American drug companies are particularly concerned with India’s liberal generic-drug policy, which humanitarian groups contend saves lives in developing nations but drug firms say saps their incentive to fund expensive research.
India, for its part, is concerned over proposals in Congress that would curb visas for high-tech workers. Biden, who is accompanied by his wife, Jill, is scheduled to travel to Singapore on Thursday after India to discuss trade with officials of the island-state and discuss tension in the South China Sea. Biden also may meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who is on a three-day trip to the region, on Friday.
ALSO:
6.5-magnitude quake hits off New Zealand coast
Palestinians: Too soon to declare direct peace talks with Israel
Syria: Kurds reportedly released by kidnappers linked to Al Qaeda
Mark.Magnier@latimes.com
Tanvi Sharma in the New Delhi bureau contributed to this report
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
