No Manmohan-Zuma meeting fixed as yet, but India supportive of Bharti-MTN deal

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has not yet firmed up any bilateral or pull-aside meetings with South African President Jacob Zuma during the two-day G-20 Summit at Pittsburgh, but officials accompanying him have not ruled out such a possibility. (Pull-aside meetings are informal, and often impromptu, consultations held between two leaders on the sidelines of the Summit).

In response to a specific question on whether the proposed merger between Bharti Airtel, India’s largest private sector telecom company, and MTN, South Africa’s telecom service provider, was being endorsed by the government, an official clarified that although it was a question of the government supporting a private sector company in its expansion plans, the size and the nature of the deal was such that no government could afford to completely ignore it. “Other countries do much more for their companies,” the official added.

The only bilateral meeting so far fixed for the Indian prime minister at the Pittsburgh Summit is with the newly-elected Japanese Prime Minister, Yukio Hatoyama. The 15-minute meeting will be the first interaction between the two leaders after Hatoyama’s elevation as the prime minister and will take place in the context of Japan’s recent efforts at playing a larger role in India’s growing infrastructure sector.

Government officials were also non-committal on whether the Indian prime minister was likely to have a bilateral meeting with his Chinese counterpart. But they pointed out that India’s concerns over the inflow of Chinese unskilled workers for various infrastructure projects should be tackled only at a policy level by streamlining relevant policies.

The G-20 Summit would also consider what measures needed to be taken to prevent money laundering and the flow of tainted money across international borders, the officials added.