Clinton’s visit may just be a picnic

NEW DELHI, MARCH 2: Although President Bill Clinton's presidential jet isexpected to carry a planeload of top-notch business leaders besid...

NEW DELHI, MARCH 2: Although President Bill Clinton’s presidential jet isexpected to carry a planeload of top-notch business leaders besides hisSecretary of State Madeleine Albright, Energy Secretary Bill Richardson andkey officials from the State Department, many expect the trip to be apleasure trip than a substantive one.

The US President’s five-day trip to India might turn out to be more of aphoto-op, although it comes after a gap of 22 years. The President’sentourage will include a large business delegation, comprising leadersprimarily from the IT and energy sector, but no major agreements arescheduled.

Highly placed sources say that New Delhi is keen to have a joint communiqueby New Delhi and Washington that would focus on fight against globalterrorism. However, the fact that the Indians may like to bring in Pakistanin focus through this is making the US reluctant.

Story continues below this ad

Sources say that the US President is more keen on exploring India’s richcultural and historical heritage, and the trip here will give him some timeto relax. This has reportedly been communicated to officials in the SouthBlock by the advance team from Washington which is currently in New Delhi.Apparently, it has also conveyed that Clinton would like to travel aloneduring his trips across the country rather than with a minister-in-waiting,as is the custom.

However, New Delhi also has a reason to cheer if the President remains busywith sightseeing and trade-related MOUs: controversial issues like Kashmirmay then be put on the backburner.

According to sources, the President’s advance team has already done theground work for his stay in Pink City Jaipur, and Agra to see the Taj Mahal.Sources say that it has been decided that apart from New Delhi, thePresident will only be visiting Jaipur, Agra, Hyderabad and Mumbai.The President will be visiting Agra on March 22 and after a visit to the TajMahal and Fatehpur Sikri, he will leave for Jaipur in the evening. ThePresident will be spending a whole day in Jaipur along with his daughterChelsea and is keen to avoid any official engagements during his visit tothe city. He wants to spend some time visiting various historical monumentsand also to do some shopping. The state government bigwigs who were waitingto rub shoulders with the US President may be disappointed.

Clinton will begin his India trip with a ceremonial guard of honour andwelcome at Rashtrapati Bhavan. On March 23, he will leave for Hyderabad andwill visit an Indo-US joint IT project and after spending a day inHyderabad, he will fly to Mumbai and spend a day there.

Story continues below this ad

The Presidential delegation is expected to comprise CEOs and seniorexecutives from a number of big US companies like the Chicago-based LucentCorporation, IBM, Bank of America, CISCO and Water Systems International.These are expected to form part of the few agreements to be signed in India.However, there are some MOUs lined up in the energy sector. US EnergySecretary Bill Richardson, who did the spadework for Indo-US cooperation inthe energy sector during his earlier trips to India, will be accompanyingthe President to sign these memoranda. US companies have a major stake inthe energy sector.

Representatives from a number of IT companies like Sun Microsystems, Unisysand IBM might also come.