Indian envoy to the United States Nirupama Rao scripts history by becoming the first ambasador to address a US state legislature. The Maryland house of delegates, which she addressed on Wednesday, was the first to be set up in the US, and predates even the Capitol in Washington, DC. Aziz Haniffa reports
Following is the transcript of Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao's media interaction
India's High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Nirupama Rao was on Wednesday named as the next envoy to China.
Rao is only the second woman to be named for the post of foreign secretary after Chokila Iyer.
"Our bilateral engagement with the United States has witnessed remarkable transformation and has matured into a strategic partnership of global dimensions," Rao said in her speech at the American University on 'India's role in a Changing World'
Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao arrived in Kabul to assess the situation arising out of Thursday''s bomb blast outside the Indian embassy there, which claimed 17 lives and injured over 60.
The United States has assured India that the tragic shooting incident at a furdwara in Wisconsin will be fully investigated, Indian Ambassador to the US Nirupama Rao said.
The government on Saturday officially announced the appointment of Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao as the next ambassador to the United States, an assignment she will take up shortly.
Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao will travel to Islamabad later this month to hold talks with her Pakistani counterpart during which India will raise the issue of nexus between Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence and the perpetrators of 26/11 attacks, as brought out by the trial of Pakistani-Canadian terrorist Tahawwur Rana in the United States.
India's new Ambassador to the United States Nirupama Rao was on Sunday accorded a rousing welcome by the Indian American community in Washington.
Pakistan's Foreign Office apparently sent an official known for his ability to read faces to receive Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao on her arrival in Rawalpindi in a bid to find out what was on her mind.
As expressions of support poured in from across the nation, with people holding peace rallies and candle light vigils in dozens of cities, Rao flew in from Washington to the tragedy struck city in Wisconsin.
'The algorithms you will use to unlock the mysteries of the universe are going to be very different from the ones my generation sought to master,' Nirupama Rao, India's Ambassador to the United States of America, tells students at Pondicherry University, May 19.
"The issue of Jammu and Kashmir comes up in our relationship with Pakistan and we've said very clearly, very confidently and very transparently that we are prepared to discuss all outstanding issues with Pakistan," the foreign secretary said on Monday
The 58-year-old diplomat, who was ambassador to China before her new assignment, will have tenure of 17 months as the top foreign ministry official. Prior to her stint in China, she has served in various key positions, including India's High Commissioner to Sri Lanka and was the first woman spokesperson of the External Affairs Ministry.
Both Indians and Americans have to consider themselves fortunate and thankful to have a diplomat of the caliber of Indian Ambassador Nirupama Rao posted in Washington and driving the burgeoning United States-India strategic partnership, a senior State Department official has said.
Indian Americans are committed and they are great when it comes to medicine, engineering, business or anything else that they touch, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley told reporters in the state capital Columbia on Wednesday after a meeting with visiting Indian Ambassador Nirupama Rao.
The foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan are meeting in Islamabad on Thursday to hold talks on the Kashmir issue and confidence-building measures aimed at boosting the peace process between them that was resumed earlier this year. Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao is scheduled to arrive in Islamabad on Thursday morning for two-day talks with her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir. They will discuss peace and security.
William S Cohen, former defence secretary in the Clinton administration and a three-term Republican United States Senator and currently the chairman and CEO of the Cohen Group and a member of the board of directors of the US-India Business Council, has applauded the appointment of Nirupama Rao as the new ambassador to the US. It comes as a propitious time when there's a sense that the US-India relationship is adrift, he has said.
Like in any expanding relationship, there will always be transactional issues to address between the two sides, says Rao.
The Congress party has claimed credit for the extradition of Tahawwur Rana, an accused in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, from the US, saying the Modi government did not initiate the process and merely benefited from the "mature, consistent and strategic diplomacy" begun under the UPA. Former Home Minister P Chidambaram said the government did not secure any breakthrough to make the extradition possible, nor is it the result of any grandstanding. He added that it was a testament to what the Indian state can achieve when diplomacy, law enforcement and international cooperation are pursued sincerely and without any kind of chest-thumping. Chidambaram detailed the UPA government's efforts in securing Rana's extradition, citing the registration of a case against him in 2009, diplomatic pressure on Canada and the US, and continued efforts despite legal setbacks. He highlighted the role of the UPA in securing Rana's conviction for other terrorism-related offences and the cooperation between the US and Indian agencies in gathering evidence and securing his extradition. The Congress leader further stated that it was the UPA's groundwork that paved the way for Rana's extradition, even after the change in government in 2014.
Nirupama Rao, the former Indian Ambassador to the US, has been named as the 'Meera and Vikram Gandhi Fellow' with the Brown-India initiative at the Watson Institute for International Studies.
Dr Manmohan Singh first embossed himself on the national consciousness when as India's finance minister he flagged off economic reforms which changed this nation forever.
On her last day as India's envoy to the United States, Ambassador Nirupama Rao was felicitated by the Barck Obama administration at the State Department on Monday, with US Secretary of State John F Kerry thanking her for her service toward furthering the strategic partnership between the two nations.
For the first time in the 43-year-old India Abroad newspaper's history, a Guest Editor was invited to edit the special magazine issue.
The new foreign secretary brings formidable experience on Sino-Indian relations to South Block
Indian Ambassador to the US Nirupama Rao visited families of victims of the Wisconsin grudwara shootout and said that the incident should not define ties with the larger American community. Aziz Haniffa reports
India's Ambassador to Washington, DC, Nirupama Rao and her team are doing everything to avoid American wrath, and the resultant legislation of sanctions, against India for not whole-heartedly joining the US-led efforts to isolate Iran. Aziz Haniffa reports
India's envoy to the United States Nirupama Rao attempts to counter the contention that there's a drift in the strategic partnership between the two nations. Aziz Haniffa reports
The American Jewish Committee, in a letter to Ambassador Nirupama Rao, had said they were 'deeply troubled' by news reports of Indian efforts to intensify trade relations with Iran. Suman Guha Mozumder reports.
Peace talks with Pakistan will resume yet again later this month as Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao meets with her counterpart Salman Bashir. The result is predictable -- the dialogue will go nowhere. India instead should renew its military-to-military ties for a positive outcome with its neighbour, believes noted defence analyst Ajai Shukla.
National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon and Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, both former ambassadors to Beijing, prevailed over the dominant view of the Karmapa, Ugyen Trinley Dorjee, being a "pro-China asset in India", reports RS Chauhan
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday held talks with US President Barack Obama, the first bilateral summit meeting after nearly three years.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had a hectic second day at the SAARC Summit in Thimphu, where he held meetings with various Heads od State.
India-born wonder kid Ritankar Das, who this year became the youngest graduate topper of the prestigious University of California in more than a century, has been felicitated by the Indian embassy in Washington for his outstanding academic achievements.
Reacting sharply to Pakistan's critical remarks over India's endorsement by the United States for United Nations Security Council, India has expressed its 'disappointment' and said they reflected the 'trust deficit' between the two countries.
Reacting sharply to Pakistan's critical remarks over India's endorsement by the United States for United Nations Security Council, India has expressed its 'disappointment' and said they reflected the 'trust deficit' between the two countries.
Describing India as an 'anchor of stability' in the region and an important partner, an influential United States Congressman has expressed confidence in the future of Indo-US strategic partnership.
At an elegant reception hosted at her residence on February 14, to felicitate the newly minted United States lawmakers -- Dr Ami Bera and Tulsi Gabbard Indian Ambassador Nirupama Rao predicted that 'the presence of Ami Bera and Tulsi Gabbard in the US Congress, brings great meaning to our mission and our task of taking US-India relations further forward to greater and greater heights'.
Despite the presence of renowned economists and entrepreneurs, it was Kiran Bedi, a retired police officer-turned activist, who stole the show at the Eighth Annual Indian Business Conference at the Columbia University last week. Suman Mozumder reports
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