【New Delhi】As eight leaders from SAARC and beyond took the front row at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s swearing-in on Monday, there was a rare feel-good atmosphere in a tense region that is home to one-fourth of the world’s people.
Apart from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan and other SAARC leaders and representatives, Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam of Mauritius was present. The new Indian Prime Minister’s speed diplomacy, and the readiness with which his invitation was accepted, has boosted India’s centrality to the region.
○US media focuses on Modi's regional ambitions
【WASHINGTON】As President Barack Obama vowed to work closely together with the new government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi "for years to come", the US media focused on "his regional ambitions".
Building bridges with a man the US had shunned for over a decade, Obama congratulated Modi and said the US looked "forward to working closely together with the new government to continue to strengthen and expand the US-India strategic partnership for years to come".
But the New York Times suggested that by inviting his counterparts from the seven other members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation at his swearing in, Modi had made "it into a showcase for his regional ambitions". Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's attendance at the ceremony hinted "that the two countries might revitalize a moribund peace process", it said in a news report on "signs of diplomacy" at the swearing in of "the son of a provincial tea seller".
○Modi faces sea of expectations from diaspora, India-watchers
【New Delhi】With Narendra Modi taking over as prime minister, a host of expectations, recommendations and advice is pouring in for the BJP leader from overseas Indians.
Balesh Dhankhar, president of Overseas Friends of BJP (OFBJP)'s Australia chapter, says, "Modi's stunning victory had given the Indian diaspora a hope of reforms. With Modi coming to power, many Indians including me have started the process of returning to India to contribute towards India's progress."
【News source】
South Asian leaders at Indian high table
US media focuses on Narendra Modi's regional ambitions
Modi faces sea of expectations from diaspora, India-watchers
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