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New Day Sunday

President Obama, Prime Minister Modi Hold Joint Press Conference

Aired January 25, 2015 - 06:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you, Prime Minister Modi, for those very generous words.

I want to express my profound gratitude to not only you, but the people of India, for the incredible hospitality that has been shown to me and Michelle. We are thrilled to be back in India.

[ SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE ]

Mr. Prime Minister, thank you for the invitation to join the people of India on Republic Day. I'm honored to be the first American president to attend this celebration, as well as the first president to visit India twice. And this reflects my commitment since the beginning of my presidency to deepen our ties with India.

I'm pleased to be joined by members of my administration, as well as members of Congress and business leaders from the United States, all who believe that a strong relationship with India is critical for America's success in the 21st century. As two great democracies, two innovative economies, two societies dedicated to the empowerment of our people including millions of Indian Americans, we are natural partners.

When I addressed your parliament on my last visit, I laid out my vision for how India and the United States could build a defining partnership for the 21st century, and since then, we have made significant progress. Our trade has increased, our military has exercised together more, we are cooperating on key global challenges from nuclear proliferation to global health.

Mr. Prime Minister, your election and your strong personal commitment to the India/U.S. relationship, gives us an opportunity to further energize these efforts. I was proud to welcome you to the White House last fall. Your reputation preceded you. As many of you know in New York, the prime minister appeared in Madison Square Garden and was greeted like a Bollywood star. And it was, I think, a signal of the deep friendship between our peoples, as well as our close ties that we are working to expand even further.

At the White House, we agreed to take this partnership to a new level. We advanced that work today. Prime Minister Modi, thank you for hosting me, including our chipay (ph) churcha (ph). We need more of those in the White House. But even as this visit is rich with symbolism, we made substantive progress. The prime minister has already indicated the United States and India have declared a new declaration of friendship that elevates and formalizes our partnership, and not only is it grounded in the values we share, but it commits us to more regular meetings at the leaders level and sets up frequent consultations across our government.

We agreed that our trade and economic partnerships must focus on improving the daily lives of our people. Prime Minister Modi described for me his ambitious efforts to empower rural Indians with bank accounts and to ensure clean water and clean air for the Indian people, and we want to be partners in this effort.

In the last few years, trade between our two countries has increased by some 60 percent toward a record of $100 billion. We want to trade even more, so we welcome the reforms that the prime minister is pursuing to make it easier to do business here in India. Today, we achieved a breakthrough understanding on two issues that were holding up our ability to advance our civil nuclear cooperation, and we are committed to moving towards full implementation, and this is an important step that shows how we can work together to elevate our relationship.

We also, as the prime minister noted, agreed to resume discussions about a possible bilateral investment treaty, and we will continue to pursue export reforms so we can advance more high-tech collaborations with India.

I am also pleased that we agreed to a number of important steps to promote clean energy and to confront climate change. We very much support India's ambitious goal for solar energy and stand ready to speed this expansion with additional financing. We are also launching joint projects to improve air quality in Indian cities. The United States will share more data and develop tools to help India assess and adapt to the impact of climate change and to help vulnerable communities become more resilient. And going forward, we have agreed to work together to make concrete progress this year towards phasing out hydrofluorocarbons under the Montreal Protocol, and the prime minister and I made a personal commitment to work together to pursue a strong global climate agreement in Paris.

As I indicated to him, I think India's voice is very important on this issue. Perhaps no country could potentially be more affected by the impacts of climate change, and no country is going to be more important in moving forward a stronger agreement than India, so we appreciate his leadership.

We agreed to deepen our defense and security cooperation. We have renewed the framework that guides our defense cooperation for another ten years, and in a major step forward for our relationship, our defense technology and trade initiative will allow us to jointly develop and produce new defense technologies. We have also agreed to a new vision for the Asian Pacific, so that we are doing more together to advance our shared security and prosperity in this critical region.

I thanked the prime minister for India's strong counterterrorism cooperation, and reiterated even as America's combat mission is over in Afghanistan, we are going to continue to be strong and reliable partners for the Afghan people, who have benefited from India's generous assistance over many years.

I thanked the prime minister for his continued support for ongoing efforts to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and to arrive at a just diplomatic solution.

And finally, we discussed what more we can do as global partners. I reiterated, and reiterate to the Indian people today that we support a reformed U.N. Security Council that includes India as a permanent member, and at the same time, we see India playing a greater role in ensuring international security and peace and meeting shared challenges. As a leading contributor to U.N. peacekeeping missions for many years, India can help the world do even more to protect citizens in conflict zones. We welcome India's leadership in combating diseases and promoting global health, that advances the rights and dignity of citizens around the world.

So, Mr. Prime Minister, thank you for welcoming me. I very much look forward to tomorrow's ceremonies, which I'm told are truly spectacular. I'm looking forward to a chance to speak directly to the Indian people on the radio and in my speech on Tuesday about what I believe we can achieve together.

This new partnership will not happen overnight. It's going to take time to build and some patience, but it's clear from this visit that we have a new and perhaps unprecedented opportunity, and deepening our ties with India is going to remain a top foreign policy priority for my administration. So let me just say (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE), thank you very much.

NARENDRA DAMODARDAS MODI, PRIME MINISTER OF INDIA: I now call upon Julie Pace of AP to ask her question.

JULIE PACE, AP: Thank you Mr. President and Mr. Prime Minister. Mr. President, I wanted to ask you about the situations in both Yemen and the Ukraine. On Yemen you held up the U.S. counterterrorism campaign there as a model for what you hope to achieve in your mission against the Islamic State Group. How does the political upheaval in Yemen affect U.S. efforts there, and will it cause you in any way to retool aspects of your broader counterterrorism strategy? And on Ukraine, pro-Russian rebels are again launching new offensives. How at this point can you justify not taking a different approach, given that the Minsk agreement has all but failed, and sanctions may have had an impact on the Russian economy but they don't appear to be changing Russia's calculus when it comes to Ukraine?

And Mr. Prime Minister, I wanted to go back to climate change. White House officials have said that the recent U.S. -- they hope that the recent U.S.-China agreement can spur countries like India to make similar commitments to cut emissions. I wonder if you feel any pressure to take that kind of action because of the China agreement, and can a Paris climate summit produce a substantial result without that type of commitment from India? Thank you.

OBAMA: Well, first of all, with respect to Ukraine, what I've said consistently is that we have no interest in seeing Russia weakened or its economy in shambles. We have a profound interest, as I believe every country does, in promoting a core principle, which is large countries don't bully smaller countries. They don't encroach on their territorial integrity, they don't encroach on their sovereignty, and that is what is at stake in Ukraine.

And what we have done is to consistently isolate Russia on this issue and to raise the costs that Russia confronts. Now, when you say that we should take a different approach, Julie, I don't know exactly what you're referring to. I've been very clear that it would not be effective for us to engage in a military conflict with Russia on this issue. But what we can do is to continue to support Ukraine's ability to control its own territory, and that involves a combination of the economic pressure that's been brought to bear in sanctions, the diplomatic isolation that has been brought to bear against Russia. And as important as anything, making sure that we are continuing to provide the support that Ukraine needs to sustain its economy during this transition period and to help its military with basic supplies and equipment, as well as the continuing training and exercises that have been taking place between NATO and Ukraine for quite some time.

We are deeply concerned about the latest break in the cease-fire and the aggression that these separatists, with Russian backing, Russian equipment, Russian financing, Russian training and Russian troops, are conducting. And we will continue to take the approach that we have taken in the past, which is to ratchet up the pressure on Russia, and I will look at all additional options that are available to us, short of military confrontation, and try to address this issue. And we will be in close consultation with our international partners and particularly European partners to assure that they stay in lock-step with us on this issue.

What we have been very successful at is maintaining unity across the Atlantic on this issue, and that is going to be a continuing priority of mine.

But, ultimately what I've said before remains true. If Mr. Putin and if Russia are hell-bent on engaging in military conflicts, their military is more powerful than Ukraine's, and, you know, the question is going to be whether they continue to pursue a path that not only is bad for the people of Ukraine, but is bad for the people of Russia, and are we able to continue to raise the costs even as we create an off-ramp diplomatically, that eventually the Kremlin starts pursuing a more sensible policy in resolving this issue.

With regard to Yemen, my top priority has and always will be to make sure our people on the ground in Yemen are safe. That is something that we have been emphasizing for the last several months, and it builds on the work that we have been doing over the last several years. It is a dangerous country in a dangerous part of the world.

Our second priority is to maintain our counterterrorism pressure on al Qaeda in Yemen, and we have been doing that. And I saw some news reports that suggested somehow that that counterterrorism activity had been suspended. That is not accurate. We continue to go after high- value targets inside of Yemen, and to continue -- we will continue to maintain the pressure that is required to keep the American people safe. We are concerned about what has always been a fragile central

government, and the forces inside of Yemen that are constantly threatening to break apart between north/south, between Houthi and Sunni inside of Yemen, and this is one more sequence in what has been an ongoing turbulent process inside of Yemen.

And what we are advising, not just the various factions inside of Yemen, but also working with our partners like the Gulf countries who have impact and influence inside of Yemen, is that at this point, what is needed is to respect a constitutional process that can resolve some of these differences peacefully and assure that all of the groups inside of Yemen are resorting to political, rather than military, means to resolve these differences.

But I guess, you know, the point, Julie, is Yemen has never been a perfect democracy or an island of stability. What I've said is that our efforts to go after terrorist networks inside of Yemen without a occupying U.S. army, but rather by partnering and intelligence sharing with that local government is the approach we are going to need to take, and that continues to be the case.

The alternative would be for us to play whack-a-mole every time there is a terrorist actor inside of any given country, to deploy U.S. troops, and that is not a sustainable strategy. So we will continue to try to refine and fine-tune this model, but it is the model that we are going to have to work with, because the alternative would be massive U.S. deployments in perpetuity, which would create its own blow-back and cause probably more problems than it would potentially solve.

And we are going to have to recognize that there are going to be a number of countries where terrorists are located that are not strong countries. That's the nature of the problem that we confront. Terrorists typically are not going to be locating and maintaining bases and having broad networks inside of countries that have strong central governments, strong militaries and strong law enforcement. By definition, we are going to be operating in places where, oftentimes, there is a vacuum or capabilities are somewhat low, and we have got to just continually apply patience, training, resources, and we then have to help, in some cases, broker political agreements as well. So it is a long, arduous process. It is not neat and it is not simple. But it is the best option that we have, and what we have shown is that we can maintain the kind of pressure on these terrorist networks, even in these kinds of difficult-to-operate environments.

MODI: [ speaking in foreign language ]

MALVEAUX: So one of the things that the prime minister of India was asked about was the -- the -- the climate agreement between the United States and India and whether or not it would really have some muscle, some teeth to it. We know that the president, having reached a deal with China recently -- that was the question that was put to the prime minister here -- is whether or not that would be as substantive as the one we have seen between the United States and China. We have got an English interpretation so let's go ahead and listen in. BLACKWELL: We are working still to get that English translation so we

can get a better understanding of what we are hearing from the prime minister. Suzanne was talking just a moment ago about the climate change agreement. That is what we are also hearing from the prime minister. I think we have got another question here. Let's listen in.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- that has been concluded between the United States and China does not impose any pressure on us. India is an independent country, and there is no pressure on us from any country or any person.

But there is pressure. When we think about the future generations and what kind of a world we are going to give them, then there is pressure. Climate change itself is a huge pressure. Global warming is a huge pressure. And all those who think about a better life and a better world for the future generations, those who are concerned about this, then it is their duty and their conscience. They would want to give a better lifestyle to the future generations, a good life and a good environment. There is pressure for all those people (ph). There is pressure on all countries, on all governments and on all peoples. Thank you.

MODI: Last question. (inaudible), ABP (ph) News.

QUESTION: Thank you. Good evening to both the honorable prime minister and President Barack Obama. My question is for Prime Minister Modi, but let me first congratulate both of you for taking the relationship forward, most specifically on nuclear deal issues.

[ SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE ]

Thank you.

MODI: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: All right. We have been listening to the prime minister of India. He is taking the final question there. We have been listening to both of these leaders here, and the president addressing a number of really important issues, but, mostly, really paying attention -- we are not only talking about climate change here and a possible nuclear deal between these two countries, but also the state of security around the world, particularly when it comes to dealing with terrorists.

And we want to bring in our own Michelle Kosinski to talk about this, because one of the things that the president was asked about was the state of Yemen, and we have seen, just within the last week, the prime minister, as well as the president, resigning from Yemen, and a group of rebels, the Houthi rebels, Shiites, essentially taking over that country. And the president was asked about what impact that would have on the United States' cooperation with that country on counterterrorism efforts.

Michelle, I want you to address that, because it's something that he spoke about, and he said, well, our top priority is Americans who are inside of the country, and that we have confidence we will be able to continue those counterterrorism efforts, but to me it seemed like he really downplayed that, because, I mean, this is, I mean if you talk about Houthi rebels, these are for the not folks who welcome a U.S. presence inside that country, whether it be air strikes, drone strikes, or special ops, or even cooperation when it comes to intelligence. I think the United States has a very, very big problem in Yemen now.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's going to be something that is going to have to be looked at. And they could continue drone strikes. As for anything deeper on the ground, I think that is really the question. And when you consider drone strikes, the number of them has gone down considerably in the last few months. There has been obviously trouble brewing there, and now it's reached a head.

I think what was interesting is this is a question that has been building for the president. You don't always get a chance to ask the president about this directly, so now that the chance was there, of course, it came up. Julie Pace from the A.P. asking President Obama, you said in the past that Yemen was something of a success in the way the U.S. was able to handle counterterrorism strategy there. What did you mean by that? And isn't it going to change now?

I mean, much has been made about President Obama's statement. Actually using the word success as it relates to Yemen. So the president got a chance to explain that, saying that, no, it's never going to be a big success, but in the way that they were able to continue counterterrorism operations, that they were able to get some cooperation from the government. So there is your big question.

Now that they may not have any cooperation from the existing government, I don't even know if anybody can define what government there is there now. What is going to happen there? Obviously, it's not going to be as deep in terms of working on the ground or getting intelligence out of there, even a safety in which people might be able to operate. But drone strikes, potentially that might be the only way, Suzanne.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The question also got to a larger issue of the president's reluctance to send in military, not only into Yemen but into Ukraine. Julie asked about the failure of this Minsk cease-fire. We heard just Friday night that more than a dozen people were killed in that attack in Mariupol, and that, although for a period seemed to have cooled a bit, there certainly is this continuing back and forth and a reluctance and resistance from Russia and Putin. And if there will be this contradiction during this Republic Day parade, that the president is the chief -- actually, we hear the president, let me get the question to you in a moment.

OBAMA: I do think that, in addition to a personal friendship, that we have been able to build in a fairly brief amount of time, we're also reflecting the warmth and affection between the Indian people and the American people. You know, part of the reason we are such natural partners is because we share values as former colonies, as the two largest democracies in the world, as entrepreneurial nations, as people who believe in the freedom and dignity and worth of all individuals.

And so it's not surprising then that we have a friendship, because hopefully we are reflecting the values of our peoples. And what I'm very excited about is given the prime minister's energy and ambition for his country and lifting people out of poverty and moving forward on the reform agenda that he has put forward, that that affection can then be translated into very specific actions, and we are seeing that reflected here today.

He is right, though, we can't tell you everything that we talked about. Although I will share one thing, and that is we compared how much sleep each of us is getting. It turns out that Modi is getting even less sleep than me. But, of course, that is because he is still new. After you've been doing this for about six years, maybe he'll be able to get an extra hour, all right? Thank you very much, everybody.

MODI: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: So the president there speaking about the personal relationship between himself and the prime minister. Back to Michelle Kosinski and this discussion over Ukraine. The president's reluctance to get involved militarily there. But that is just -- we talked about Yemen and we talked about Ukraine, but there is also Libya, Afghanistan, Syria. This speaks to a larger reluctance on the part of this president.

KOSINSKI: Right. But I think the president was consistent in what he said. Remember, this question comes up every time there is an additional round of sanctions by the U.S. and its European partners, and then something else escalates there. The question of is this enough? Russia, obviously, isn't changing its behavior. And what the White House keeps saying is that we know that. Not as if Russia is going to listen, but what happens is Russia keeps isolating itself further, and they keep pointing to the ruble falling, the economy going to pot. Foreign investment tearing out of the country as fast as it can. So that is the stance the White House takes.

And the president said it here, and this was in relationship to both Yemen and Russia, that it's not as if we are going to send in troops every time something like this happens. The alternative to sanctions and working diplomatically would be massive U.S. military deployments indefinitely. So he pretty much settled the question with that, that the U.S. is not going to get involved militarily in all of these conflicts, and the White House obviously feels that that would be a disaster for the U.S. to do that.

So then you look at what is the alternative to that? Well, it's going to continue to be things like sanctions and attempts at diplomacy. The problem is, when you look at what is going on on the ground in Crimea, it makes everybody nervous. It makes Russia and Ukraine's neighbors on edge, and it makes the U.S. worried about what is going to happen in terms of U.S. influence, and what is going to happen to that part of the world where so many of our allies are.

MALVEAUX: Michelle, thank you so much. We appreciate you. You are following the breaking news out of India, and of course a lot of important points there, but the president having to deal with so many crises in so many places, but specifically the Middle East, and conflicts that, as you had mentioned before, you know, there is different grades of U.S. involvement, and, clearly, hesitation to escalate and move forward when it comes to a military response by the United States.

BLACKWELL: We will talk more about this throughout the morning. We continue now with NEW DAY.