Shared principles

Dear Sir,

Having just returned from leading the US delegation at this year’s World Government Summit in Dubai, I want to applaud the UAE for convening such a successful and important event. With more than 3,000 government and multilateral organisation officials, including Jim Yong Kim of the World Bank and Angel Gurria of the OECD, the summit represented a world class collection of policy, business and thought leaders.
Perhaps more importantly, the summit was an exhibition of the convening power that we have seen in cities like New York, London and Davos. In short, it was an exhibition of the very leadership that reinforces Dubai’s place as a leading global city, and the UAE’s place as a model of what nations in the region can aspire to become.
With this recent trip, the UAE joins a small group of places I have visited multiple times as under secretary; a list that is comprised of America’s most important trading partners: China, Mexico and the European Union.
This is entirely appropriate because of how the UAE has used its commercial power to advance the principles we share as nations, the very principles that were on display during my recent visit: the critical role of government in driving innovation to help citizens achieve their maximum economic and human potential; economic diversification to ensure sustainable growth despite fluctuations in global commodity prices; and investing in a nation’s citizenry to ensure the prosperity that is crucial to economic development and countering violent extremism.
It is the intertwining of our shared principles, and our leadership commitment to project these principles, that has led our two countries to the deepened commercial partnership we have today. And I look forward to working with my UAE colleagues to advance our important partnership into the future.

Stefan M Selig, Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade,
US Department of Commerce, Washington

No violence please...
 
Dear Sir,

Jats are the single largest community in the north Indian state of Haryana, numbering around 8mn. They are traditionally a farming community. Highly patriotic, the Jat community’s contribution to India in various walks of life is immense. India’s present army chief, Gen dalbir singh Suhag,  is a Jat.
But I feel the community’s latest agitation for reservation in government jobs was uncalled for.
Protests are a vital part of any democracy, but  this right has often been misused in India. While communities have every right to protest peacefully for causes they believe in, it is important that they should not turn violent.  I hope better sense will prevail on community leaders.

Ramesh G Jethwani, (Address supplied)

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