DAS FEIGENBAUM MEETING WITH MEA'S GAITRI KUMAR,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 NEW DELHI 000950

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA, EEB
DEPT PASS USTR, USDA, DOD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/04/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV EAGR ETRD EINV MARR TSPA AMGT OFDP
OEXC, IN
SUBJECT: DAS FEIGENBAUM MEETING WITH MEA'S GAITRI KUMAR,
MARCH 31

Classified By: Political Minister Counselor Ted Osius for Reasons 1.4 (
B, D)


1. (C) Summary: In a March 31 meeting, Joint Secretary
Gaitri Kumar provided SCA Deputy Assistant Secretary Evan
Feigenbaum with a positive Indian assessment of External
Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee's March 24 visit to
Washington, saying it had helped to bring clarity on many
outstanding issues. Kumar and Feigenbaum discussed the
differing U.S. and Indian concepts of agricultural
cooperation and their implications for the future of the
Agriculture Knowledge Initiative; both expressed hope that
the April 15-16 board meeting would help bring clarity of
direction to the initiative. Feigenbaum raised as U.S.
priorities the need for progress on the bilateral Defense
Agreements, the Fulbright agreement, next steps on the new
U.S. proposal for Space cooperation and the Bilateral
Investment Treaty. Kumar provided a status report on these
agreements and was positive on the potential for forward
movement on each. She said the Indian list of priority
issues is longer and better presented in writing separately
in a nonpaper that she proposed to develop, but she singled
out social security totalization and a bilateral agreement on
property taxes similar to an existing U.S.-China agreement.
Kumar promised to respond soon to the U.S. proposal for
establishing regular dialogue between the U.S. and India on
Africa, the Gulf and East Asia. End Summary


Mukherjee's Washington Visit
--------------


2. (C) During a March 31 meeting, Joint Secretary Gaitri
Kumar provided SCA Deputy Assistant Secretary Evan Feigenbaum
an upbeat assessment of External Affairs Minister Pranab
Mukherjee's March 24 Washington visit. She said the visit
was timely in that it helped to bring "clarity on where we
are and where we are not" on a number of issues. She felt
that the frank manner of the exchanges between the two sides
was useful. Kumar said the visit helped to underscore that
both sides were committed to the "rest of the relationship,"
and not focused solely the U.S.-India civil nuclear
initiative. She regretted that she had not yet received a
read-out of the Secretary-Mukherjee dinner. Feigenbaum
responded that the two principals discussed the whole range
of bilateral relationship, including but going beyond the
U.S.-India civil nuclear relationship.

Agricultural Knowledge Initiative
--------------


3. (C) Kumar expressed her hope that the April 15-16 meeting
of the AKI board would help provide clarity of purpose and
direction for this signature US-India initiative. Feigenbaum
warned of a much more fundamental problem in which there is a
conceptual gap between the two sides. In his view, the two
sides are using the same vocabulary but talking past each
other on priorities and strategies. While the Indian side
appears focused on technology cooperation as catalyst, the
United States believes the key for realizing Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh's vision of a "second Green Revolution" lies
in the economics and political economy of the Indian
agriculture sector. Even on technology cooperation, he
added, the two sides quickly run into an impasse because the
most promising technological advances are in the Genetically
Modified Organisms (GMO) area for food crops, a topic that
the GOI is reluctant to engage on even though India has a
positive GMO experience in the cotton crop.


4. (C) Kumar drew a sharp line in the sand on discussion
within the AKI of the political economy of the Indian
agriculture sector. She noted that "perhaps the US is used
to telling countries what to do" in such sensitive areas, but
it would not happen with India and there would be "huge
pushback" from the GOI on any agenda that includes the
economic or political economy of Indian agriculture. She was
disappointed that AKI is running into such difficulty,
including lack of funding from the U.S. side, noting that the
AKI joint work plan had been a combined effort in which both

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sides had collaborated closely to draft a three-year roadmap
to concentrate on four focus areas. If the USG now finds
fault with the work plan, the two sides need a way to
terminate the program, she observed. Feigenbaum noted that
the U.S. does not by any means propose to give India
instructions but does believe it has experiences to share.


5. (C) Kumar noted that the upcoming meeting of the AKI
board would include two new observers from each side --
WalMart and Dole from the U.S. side and CII and FICCI from
the Indian side. She indicated that FICCI proposes to
organize a tour of India by American small and medium sized
enterprises (SMEs) in the agriculture/agri-business sector
on grounds that it is these smaller companies rather than the
WalMarts which require AKI assistance in order to invest and
seek markets in India. Feigenbaum confided that his USDA
colleagues had warned him that there is "zero interest" on
the part of American SMEs in visiting India to develop
business opportunities at this time, in part because they
have looked at the difficult experience of larger companies
in India. But, he noted, that he had talked to FICCI about
this, and obviously welcomes the initiative.

Bilateral Agenda
--------------


6. (C) Kumar underlined that the bilateral relationship was
good and "there is no waning on our side" of desire to
further strengthen it in the last year of the current U.S.
administration. She added that to make progress on any of
the three dozen dialogues between the two countries a minimum
requirement is that both sides must be fully committed to
seeking forward movement. Feigenbaum observed that in
addition to the US-India civil nuclear initiative, the USG
was particularly interested in progress on the bilateral
defense agreements, the Fulbright agreement, commercial Space
Launch on which the U.S. had made a new proposal, and the
Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT). Kumar said she had a much
longer GOI wish-list she will convey separately but she
singled out two issues. First, she stated that a bilateral
agreement on property taxes along the lines of an existing
US-China agreement would be advantageous to both India and
the United States, which could otherwise be stuck with a
large tax bill in India. Second, unless the USG shows some
progress on Social Security totalization, which costs Indian
temporary workers in the U.S. dearly, the GOI may enact
similar "taxes" on U.S. citizens working in India.

Defense Agreements: PM Says "Get on With It"
--------------


7. (C) Kumar stated that the Prime Minister had directed the
National Security Advisor (NSA),the Ministry of Defense
(MoD) and MEA to get the agreements finalized. She reported
that both the Logistics Support Agreement and the CISMOA are
currently with MoD, which must move them forward for cabinet
approval. On the End Use Monitoring and Enhanced End Use
Monitoring agreements, she stated that the action was
currently between MoD and the Indian Embassy in Washington.

Fulbright Agreement: By End of April
--------------


8. (C) Kumar estimated that the revised Fulbright agreement
would be ready for signature by the end of April. She said
she will move it forward through MEA to the cabinet for
approval very soon. She had intended to do it just before
departing for Washington as part of Mukherjee's delegation,
but considering that both Mukherjee and Foreign Secretary
Menon would be out of town and unable to clear it, she
decided to wait until all of them returned to Delhi.

BIT: Need Dates
--------------


9. (C) Kumar was positive on the prospects for a BIT
agreement but noted that the Finance Ministry and the
Commerce Ministry had not yet settled on the composition of
the GOI delegation. Feigenbaum, noting that Finance Minister

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Chidambaram had told USTR Susan Schwab he was interested in
moving it forward, asked Kumar for help in getting the GOI to
agree to and/or propose dates certain for the next round of
BIT negotiations. She instructed her staff to contact the
Finance and Commerce Ministries immediately.

Commercial Space Launch: Action with the U.S.
--------------


10. (C) Feigenbaum acknowledged that the recent Indian
response on the new U.S. proposal on Space Launch was
positive. Kumar opined that the prospects for progress on
the agreement were good.

Regional Dialogues: Don't Call Us ...
--------------


11. (C) On the U.S. proposal for establishing regular
dialogue between the U.S. and India on Africa, the Gulf and
East Asia, Kumar said the Foreign Secretary had expressed
interest but relevant MEA Joint Secretaries are currently
preoccupied with the India-Africa summit on April 6. She
promised to develop a response to the U.S. proposal soon.
Feigenbaum observed that the purpose of initiating such
dialogues was for the two countries to turn common interest
into complementary policies in these regions.


12. (U) DAS Feigenbaum has cleared this cable.



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