Condi surprise for Natwar

It is not often that foreign ministers ‘‘call on’’ their visiting counterparts. But that precisely is what the US Secret...

It is not often that foreign ministers ‘‘call on’’ their visiting counterparts. But that precisely is what the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice did for External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh today. In the world of diplomacy, so conscious of protocol, it is a big deal on where leaders meet. Instead of receiving him at her office on the seventh floor of the State Department, which would have been the norm, Rice went to see Natwar Singh at his suite in the Willard Hotel. Singh had just arrived in Washington from New York, where he was participating in the talks between foreign ministers of G-4 (India, Japan, Germany and Brazil) on UN Security Council reform that has entered a decisive stage.

Senior officials here say Natwar Singh and Rice reviewed the broad Indo-US agenda and set the stage for the talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President George W Bush on Monday morning.

American Protocol

By nature, Americans are transactional and do not stand on ceremony. In the last couple of decades, the White House has slowly but surely cut down on pomp and ceremony in receiving foreign dignitaries. Departing from this norm, Bush is laying out the full treatment of American presidential hospitality for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He was received with honours at the Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on Sunday, where Air India One landed on the hottest day of the season.

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On Monday, President Bush will receive Singh with all the regalia in the South Lawns of the White House. Just before the formal reception at the White House, Condoleezza Rice will call on him at the Blair House, where Singh and his wife are staying. Rice is also hosting a luncheon for Singh at the State Department. And in the evening, Bush will host a banquet for the visiting Indian PM. The list of invitees for Bush’s banquet for Singh is believed to be small. The aim is to provide an intimate environment rather than a large gathering of celebrities. After dinner there will be a jazz show for Singh and his delegation.

PM, Laura’s libraries

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is excited by the prospect of meeting First Lady Laura Bush again. The two had chatted up at Moscow in May where Bush and Singh were participating in the 60th anniversary celebrations of the end of World War-II.

Bush is not known for being a voracious reader of books. But his wife Laura Bush, trained as a librarian, is a bibliophile. She also has set up a foundation for promoting libraries in America. Laura Bush’s interest in libraries struck a chord with Singh, who is emphasising the importance of turning India into a ‘‘knowledge society’’. At the banquet on Monday night, expect Singh to pick up the threads of his conversation with Laura Bush on libraries and knowledge societies.