The United States secretary of state Mike Pompeo's visit to New Delhi is being dubbed a "getting-to-know-each-other" visit. Pompeo's official engagements in India are on Wednesday, which include meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, as well as an 'India Policy Speech' in the evening.
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Diplomatic sources say that the meeting should not be judged by tangible outcomes like memoranda of understandings at the end of the visit, since the main focus is to get familiar with the new dispensation. While Modi's government is much the same as before, it is a new term. And, it has a new external affairs minister, who has not met Pompeo in any official capacity before.
Sources say that the talks will cover a wide range of subjects, from trade relations to Iran. At most such bilaterals, rebuilding Afghanistan and problems of cross-border terrorism are discussed. Those topics are likely to top the agenda this time too.
Indo-US ties have improved vastly in the last few years, but there are hiccups in several aspects. Trade is going up by 10 per cent every year, and the trade deficit, which the US would flag regularly, has also come down. However, there continue to be issues regarding market access and high tariffs. Diplomatic sources say these can be ironed out, once the misconceptions regarding them are clarified. While the US, for instance, is upset with the tariffs on Harley Davidson, they charged as much as 33 per cent tariff on certain items like tobacco. India's tariffs, on the other hand, are largely in keeping with those of other developing countries.
Iran is likely to come up in the discussion. Sanctions on oil imports have hit Indian oil companies, and there are likely to be discussions on sourcing alternative supplies. India maintains that their decision on importing oil will continue to be guided by commercial considerations and energy security requirements.
India's decision to purchase S-400 air defence missile systems from Russia is another vexing issue with the US. Russia, however, has a long standing defence relationship with India. Sources say that under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), India qualifies for waiver provisions. The US decision, therefore, is more political than legal.
Discussions over the tri-services military exercise to be held later this year, the connectivity projects in Asia Pacific, and the G20 summit in Osaka, there is certainly no dearth of conversation topics for this visit.
