New Laws of Commercial Registration and Trade Names take effect on Thursday    Civil Defense warns of heavy rains across Saudi Arabia until Monday    Saudi Exchange suspends trading of seven companies over financial disclosure delays    New fleet of 76 public transport buses starts operation in Jeddah on Tuesday Environmentally friendly electric buses introduced for first time    Foreign investors are allowed to engage in real estate business outside Makkah and Madinah Commercial speculation should not be the purpose of real estate transaction    EU preparing 'further countermeasures' to protect its interest, von der Leyen says    Tesla sales plunge after backlash against Elon Musk    Musk's X is suing India, as Tesla and Starlink plan entry    Israel announces expansion of military operation in Gaza to seize 'large areas' of land    US cancels visa of Nobel Peace Prize winner Oscar Arias    Danish prime minister refutes US claim on Greenland on visit to the Arctic territory    Aubameyang fires Al Qadsiah into King's Cup final with stoppage-time winner over Al Raed    Cristiano Ronaldo joins Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves    Saudi Arabia welcomes trilateral border treaty between Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan    Swedish table tennis legend Jörgen Persson appointed head coach of Saudi national team    Danilo Pereira fires Al Ittihad into King's Cup final with dramatic stoppage-time double    Screen time in bed linked to insomnia, study finds    Mexico bans junk food in schools to fight childhood obesity epidemic    Sweet sales surge ahead of Eid as Saudi chocolate imports top 123 million kg in 2024    Saudi creatives shine at Jeddah's Fawanees Nights with art, fashion, and storytelling    Bollywood actress vindicated over boyfriend's death after media hounding    Grand Mufti rules against posting prayers and preaching in mosques on social media    King Salman prays for peace and stability for Palestinians in Ramadan message King reaffirms Saudi Arabia's commitment to serving the Two Holy Mosques and pilgrims    Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan 'out of danger' after attack at home in Mumbai    Exotic Taif Roses Simulation Performed at Taif Rose Festival    Asian shares mixed Tuesday    Weather Forecast for Tuesday    Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Arabian Travel Market Exhibition in Dubai    Minister of Industry Announces 50 Investment Opportunities Worth over SAR 96 Billion in Machinery, Equipment Sector    HRH Crown Prince Offers Condolences to Crown Prince of Kuwait on Death of Sheikh Fawaz Salman Abdullah Al-Ali Al-Malek Al-Sabah    HRH Crown Prince Congratulates Santiago Peña on Winning Presidential Election in Paraguay    SDAIA Launches 1st Phase of 'Elevate Program' to Train 1,000 Women on Data, AI    41 Saudi Citizens and 171 Others from Brotherly and Friendly Countries Arrive in Saudi Arabia from Sudan    Saudi Arabia Hosts 1st Meeting of Arab Authorities Controlling Medicines    General Directorate of Narcotics Control Foils Attempt to Smuggle over 5 Million Amphetamine Pills    NAVI Javelins Crowned as Champions of Women's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Competitions    Saudi Karate Team Wins Four Medals in World Youth League Championship    Third Edition of FIFA Forward Program Kicks off in Riyadh    Evacuated from Sudan, 187 Nationals from Several Countries Arrive in Jeddah    SPA Documents Thajjud Prayer at Prophet's Mosque in Madinah    SFDA Recommends to Test Blood Sugar at Home Two or Three Hours after Meals    SFDA Offers Various Recommendations for Safe Food Frying    SFDA Provides Five Tips for Using Home Blood Pressure Monitor    SFDA: Instant Soup Contains Large Amounts of Salt    Mawani: New shipping service to connect Jubail Commercial Port to 11 global ports    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Delivers Speech to Pilgrims, Citizens, Residents and Muslims around the World    Sheikh Al-Issa in Arafah's Sermon: Allaah Blessed You by Making It Easy for You to Carry out This Obligation. Thus, Ensure Following the Guidance of Your Prophet    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques addresses citizens and all Muslims on the occasion of the Holy month of Ramadan    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



US, India start discussions on diplomatic immunity
Published in Saudi Press Agency on 25 - 01 - 2014

India and the U.S. are holding preliminary discussions to resolve their differing interpretations of diplomatic immunity as they look to mend ties damaged by the row over American treatment of an Indian diplomat who was arrested and strip-searched in New York, India's ambassador said, according to AP.
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, India's new envoy in Washington, said Friday his priority is to raise the "morale" of a relationship that remains fundamentally good despite the spat over Devyani Khobragade, who was expelled from the U.S. this month after she was indicted on accusations of exploiting her housekeeper.
"As you would say in the markets, the fundamentals are good, it's the sentiment that needs improving," Jaishankar told The Associated Press in an interview.
The U.S. and India, the world's largest democracies, have forged closer economic and defense ties in the past decade, but relations took a tumble because of Indian outrage over the treatment of Khobragade, who was the nation's deputy consul general in New York. She was strip-searched after her Dec. 13 arrest, which U.S. Marshals say is common practice for a suspect taken into custody, but was viewed in India as unnecessarily humiliating.
India unleashed a steady stream of retaliatory measures against U.S. diplomats, including restrictions at the American Center in New Delhi and revoking new ID cards for some diplomats. Key to the dispute was Washington and Delhi's differing interpretations of what type of immunity was due to Khobragade. U.S. officials argued that as a consular official, she was immune from prosecution from acts performed in the exercise of consular functions, and not full diplomatic immunity.
Jaishankar said while that's the rule for foreign diplomats in the U.S., he questioned whether Washington expects its diplomats abroad to be treated in kind. He said India has issued new identity cards for U.S. consular officials to specify that their diplomatic immunity does not cover "serious crimes" - referred to as "felonies" in the U.S.
"There is an issue of what does the U.S. expect abroad and what does the US give at home. I think there's a reconciliation there that needs to be done," the ambassador said. "What fairness would dictate is we would expect and give what you (the U.S.) expect and give."
He said India is starting to work through the issue with the State Department, and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Indian counterpart Salman Khurshid discussed it when they met Wednesday on the sidelines of a conference on Syria in Switzerland - their first face-to-face since the imbroglio over Khobragade.
Striking the positive tone set in the past two weeks since Khobragade returned home, Jaishankar said he was looking to advance a bilateral relationship that has grown stronger in the past 10 to 15 years. Two-way trade has grown to $100 billion.
"It's big economically, there's a high degree of political comfort," he said, noting the importance of more than 5 million Indian-Americans in helping to foster it.
But Jaishankar acknowledged that commercial relations have not been "plain sailing."
Big US companies have concerns over what they claim are unpredictable and unfair tax demands; pharmaceutical companies complain over what they view as unfair competition from manufacturers of generic drugs; foreign investors, such as Wal-Mart, have grumbled over local content requirements as they look to break into the untapped Indian market.
Jaishankar said India has responded to pressures to remain business-friendly, and considers "corrections" where they are needed. But he noted that India has its own concerns, including over whether U.S. immigration reform proposals - currently mired in Congress - that he said could hurt the competitiveness of Indian service industries in the U.S. whose business is worth $40 billion.
"It's an industry which actually keep American business competitive," he said. "We help the American economy function 24-7."
Growing military cooperation and some $9 billion in U.S. defense sales to India in the past decade also reflect a further deepening of the relationship. Delhi, however, has been careful not to align too closely to Washington in international affairs, although it's been strongly supportive of the reconstruction of a post-Taliban Afghanistan through its development aid.
Jaishankar said India wants to see peace and stability, but he would not be drawn on whether Afghan President Hamid Karzai should sign a security agreement with Washington to allow some U.S. forces to stay past the end of the NATO mission in the country, scheduled for this year. Karzai has demurred so far.
Afghanistan has long been an area of strategic rivalry between India and its historic enemy Pakistan, whose relations remain fragile, snared on Indian concerns that Pakistan is a base for Islamic militants that attack India.
Jaishankar said there's a "serious desire" among Indians to have a lasting settlement with Pakistan, and he kept an open mind about the fledgling efforts at rapprochement by Pakistan's government - the latest in decades of peace efforts that he said have mostly floundered because of terrorism coming from Pakistan.
Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif says Washington could help mediate between the South Asian nuclear rivals, but the Indian envoy saw little chance of that.
He said if people who are so culturally similar can't talk to each other, "what would someone far away do? What role could they conceivably have?"


Clic here to read the story from its source.