Modi-Obama Summit: A New Way of Doing Things?

NEW DELHI: Personal relations between leaders have a long tradition in international diplomacy. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi readies to take part in his first summit with U.S. President Barack Obama, pundits and the media have focused a good deal of attention on their encounter, billed as one that would seek to detangle the relationship and reenergize the strategic partnership.

There is speculation about whether the two leaders will be able to have an honest conversation and establish a good personal equation to find common ground while advancing their respective national interests and shape international politics.

On Monday evening, Obama will host a private dinner over which they will meet and talk, and that will be followed by bilateral meetings on Tuesday at the Oval Office. It is their first meeting in person and there is expectation that both will really get to know each other and exchange ideas about how best to resolve concerns and reset ties that in recent years have developed many wrinkles. 

Although countries act according to their national interests, says Ashley J Tellis of the Carnegie Endowment, "the quality of the personal relations between leaders makes a difference to the way in which they conduct foreign policy. And especially between friendly nations, such as the United States and India, relationship make a huge difference to whether the outcomes of summits are prosaic or momentous. Modi's first order of business in the United States, then, consists of building a strong connection with Obama, of the kind the prime minister enjoys with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe."

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