26/01/2011
USA risks losing out to India, China: Obama
Washington: President Barack Obama on Wednesday warned that the US risked losing out to countries such as India and China in areas like in education, technology and research, noting they were undertaking investments in these areas.
US President Barack Obama waves as he prepares to deliver the annual State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the Capitol in Washington. AFP
Delivering his annual State of the Union address to the US Congress, Obama made three references to India in his hour-long speech during which he said his administration has built a "new partnership" with the south Asian country as part of his efforts to shape a world that favours peace and prosperity.
Obama, who visited India in November last, also referred to the recent business agreements with India and China that would create jobs in the US. "We have reset our relationship with Russia, strengthened Asian alliances, and built new partnerships with nations like India," Obama said in the address in which terrorism and war took a backseat with the President's focus being on education and economy.
Building new relationship with countries like India, Obama said is part of his efforts to shape a world that favours peace and prosperity. Obama also unveiled his blueprint to maintain American leadership in an increasingly competitive world marked by the surge of nations like India and China.
The blueprint has four key pillars--innovate, educate, build, reform and responsibility. Obama put forward a plan to help the US win the future by out-innovating, out-educating, and out-building the global competition.
"Nations like China and India realised that with some changes of their own, they could compete in this new world," he said, adding, "So they started educating their children earlier and longer, with greater emphasis on math and science. They are investing in research and new technologies."
US President Barack Obama delivers the annual State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the Capitol in Washington. AFP
On the other hand, Obama said, the quality of the American math and science education lagged behind that of many other nations and the country had fallen to ninth rank in terms of the proportion of young people with a college degree.
Obama also highlighted the importance of emerging markets like India and China in creating more jobs in the US. "Recently, we signed agreements with India and China that will support more than 250,000 jobs in the United States," Obama said.
While calling for new investments in American innovation, the US President also underscored the need to reform the way the government conducted business--by investing in what makes America stronger and cutting what doesn't.
The President's Budget will help increase the nation's R and D investments, as a share of GDP, to its highest levels since President John F Kennedy.
Obama also pledged to prepare an additional 100,000 science, technology, engineering, and math teachers by the end of the decade.
US President Barack Obama shakes hands with Congressional pages after delivering the annual State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the Capitol in Washington. AFP
Obama's India trip most successful South Asia trip ever
US President Barack Obama's India visit in November was one of the most successful trips ever taken by a US President to South Asia, a top Administration official has said.
"President's November trip to India," the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Robert Blake, in his speech at the Syracuse University, New York, said turned out to be one of the most successful trips ever taken by an American president to South Asia.
The trip produced a number of significant new milestones that showed how US and India are working together to advance global peace, security and development and illustrate why Obama believes US relations with India constitute an "indispensable partnership" for the 21st century.
Blake said the big headline-maker was, of course, the President's endorsement of a reformed United Nations that includes India as a permanent member. "The endorsement of an Indian seat on a reformed UN Security Council, as a permanent member, reflects our confidence that it is a country with which we will be working ever more closely to advance global security and prosperity," he said.
During the trip, the Indian government positioned itself to take on a leading role in enhancing global stability by finalizing a $4.1 billion sale for ten C-17 Globe master III heavy lift transport aircraft.
US President Barack Obama's motorcade drives toward the Capitol Hill for his the State of Union speech in Washington, DC, on January 25, 2011. AFP
"Once all the aircraft have been delivered, ladies and gentlemen, India will have the second largest C-17 fleet in the world behind the United States -- a highly visible manifestation of the US -India defense partnership," he said.
"The purchase of six C-130J transport aircraft in 2008 will provide the Indian Air Force a strategic airlift and humanitarian response capability that is unique to the region and emblematic of India's ambitions to play an increasingly global role," Blake said.
Noting that the President and the Prime Minister agreed that in this increasingly inter-dependent world, the stability of, and our access to, the air, sea, space, and cyberspace domains is vital for the security and economic prosperity of all nations, Blake said the two leaders therefore agreed to launch a dialogue to explore ways the two countries can work together, as well as with other countries, to develop a shared vision for these critical domains to promote peace, security and development.
As leaders of the two largest democracies in the world, the President and Prime Minister launched a US-India Open Government Dialogue on how India and the US can democratize access to information, support global initiatives in this area, and share their own experience.
Source: Agencies
