Less than two weeks after her arrival in Washington, India's Ambassador-designate to the United States, Meera Shankar, became India's ambassador after presenting her credentials at the State Department to Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg.
'Anyone who has known Meera Shankar would vouch that she is a proud Indian who never bats an eyelid in articulating her views and convictions.'
The Indian Navy has ordered a probe into the bribery allegations against its officers made in a letter from Meera Shankar, the Indian ambassador to US, to the Prime Minister's Office, Defence Minister A K Antony said on Thursday.
Over five years, India has reportedly been named in over 70 enforcements; and of those in 2007, more than half arose in the context of M&A.
Amidst growing concern that India and the United States are on a collision course over reduction of carbon emissions in the run-up to the climate change conference in Copenhagen later this year, India's Ambassador to the US, Meera Shankar said that for a country like India with a severe energy shortage, absolute reductions of emissions is extremely challenging and well nigh impossible.
Indian Ambassador to the United States Meera Shankar has said it is not India but the US that has to respond to the recent revelations by former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf that American military aid provided to Pakistan for its war against terror during his tenure, had been diverted to strengthen its defenses against India.
But, the envoy acknowledged that there are infrastructure sectors which pose tremendous challenges where enormous amount of work, needed to happen.
United Stated President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama served chicken samosa among other mouthwatering dishes at a White House reception hosted for ambassadors including Indian envoy Meera Shankar. Though samosa in India is a vegetarian preparation but in the West, where it has become one of the most popular Indian snacks, it is served with fillings of minced meat. But Obamas served samosas with chicken fillings with yogurt dip to his guests in White House.
The newly re-constituted US Senate India Caucus will resurrect itself on Tuesday evening with its first meeting for the year during which it will also formally welcome India's Ambassador to the US, Meera Shankar, who assumed duties two months ago.
The provisions of the border security bill, which allows massive increase in the fees on categories of H-1B and L1 visas, is discriminatory against the Indian companies, India has said and asked the United States to amend it.
Meera Shankar, India's envoy to the United States, on Monday said there are 'double standards' in the US about the issue of India's ties with Iran.Shankar said that while it is true that India has relations with Teheran, there are American companies as well who have ties with some sectors in that country, through their local subsidiaries.
'Indian government is very keen to attract talent back, particularly for all the new institutions that it is building in the field of higher education.'
India's Ambassador to the United States Meera Shankar received a warm welcome at the first meeting of the newly reconstituted US Senate India Caucus, at the ornate Mansfield Room of the US Capitol, in the presence of more than two dozen Senators from across the political divide. She said the event was "a tribute to India, to the Indian American community in the United States, to the warm and strong ties between our two countries," she said.
Stating that India is committed to move forward on the deal, India's new Ambassador to the US Meera Shankar said, "This (deal) is very high on our priority. We are conscious of the fact that it was the US government which did the heavy hitting, if I may use a cricketing metaphor to get this deal through. We would very much like to move forward in a concrete way with agreements for building nuclear reactors with US assistance in India."
Congratulating Manmohan Singh on his second term as the Prime Minister of India, United States President Barack Obama today said Singh is a "very wise leader" whom he respects and is looking forward to visit New Delhi at an early date.
In the last two years, foreign direct investment from India into the United States has grown more than the FDI from the US into India, excluding portfolio investments, Indian Ambassador to the US Meera Shankar said recently.
"We are interested in a social security dialogue. We have discussed with the US side on the conclusion of what is called a totalisation of agreement by our IT companies," India's new envoy to the US Meera Shankar said at a reception hosted in her honour by the US-India Business Council.
The agreed text of the proposed agreement on pre-notification of the tests will be referred to the foreign secretaries of the two countries for formalisation, Shankar said after the talks with Pakistan's additional secretary.
With the issue of pre-notification on missile tests high on agenda, India and Pakistan held their third round of expert-level talks on nuclear confidence-building measures (CBMs) in New Delhi on Friday.
India's tough measures against United States diplomats following the arrest of a senior Indian diplomat in New York has impacted US Ambassador Nancy Powell who called off her travel to Nepal after her special privileges were withdrawn.
A day before Ambassador Meera Shankar was to return home after completing her tenure in the US in the summer of 2011, her maid, without informing anyone, left her official residence on the outskirts of the city never to return.
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