Ahead of her meeting with the West Bengal Chief Minister, Ms Mamata Banerjee, Ms Hillary Clinton, during an interactive session on Monday, said that both foreign direct investment in retail and the aborted India-Bangladesh treaty on the sharing Teesta waters were “certainly on the list” of issues to be discussed.
However, soon after the meeting, Ms Banerjee denied any discussion on both the issues.
During her interactive session here, Ms Clinton said: “I will certainly raise the United States' desire to open the market to multi-brand retail.”
On the issue of the Teesta water-sharing accord between India-Bangladesh that fell through in the last minute, Ms Clinton said that water is an issue that will become “increasingly contentious” around the world.
“The US does not have any interest in how the water issues are resolved,” Ms Clinton said, but added that the future is dismal “unless water is put on the list to be dealt with.”
The international community needs to “do a better job of trying to find win-win solutions for everybody” because the alternative, at its worst will be conflict.
“I come with a belief that India can compete with anybody anywhere and the more open India becomes over time, the greater the rise in the standard of living and opportunity for the broader number of people. But I also understand politics and I understand how lots of these decisions are difficult,” Ms Clinton added.
The Office of Public Affairs, US Consulate General Kolkata, in a press release issued later in the day said that discussions touched on issues “ranging from increasing US investments in West Bengal, including in the retail sector, US-India relations, regional affairs and strong people-to-people connections…”
When Ms Banerjee was asked during her interaction with the media on Teesta water sharing and FDI issues, she said: “We did not talk on FDI in retail or on Teesta water sharing.”
To a later query, she retorted: “No. I just said that these issues were not discussed at the meeting. Neither was I asked anything, nor did they mention anything on the issues.”
The UPA-II at the Centre had failed to come to a consensus on both these issues following pressure from its key ally the Trinamool Congress.