Obama, Singh may have a separate meeting at G-20 summit

Los Cabos: The possibility of a separate meeting between US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during the G-20 Summit here is not being ruled out, days after the two leaders agreed to work together to address the faltering global economy and the painful eurozone crisis. Singh, who will be participating at the seventh Summit of the Group of 20 developed and developing countries (G-20), has an impressive array of bilateral meetings lined up with world leaders during the two-day deliberations taking place in this Mexican coastal resort against the backdrop of problems afflicting the 17-nation eurozone. [caption id=“attachment_347242” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Prime Minister Manmohan Singh being greeted during departure by CG in Frankfurt R Taranjit Singh Sandhu at Frankfurt international airport on Sunday. PTI”]  [/caption] When asked whether there will be a bilateral meeting between Obama and Singh, Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai told reporters that though nothing has been scheduled, but there could be a pull aside meeting. Singh and Obama share an excellent bonhomie, with the President often turning to the economist-turned politician for advice on economic issues. Singh is due to have bilaterals with the host country President Felipe Calderon, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Canadian and British Premiers Stephen Harper and David Cameron, French President Francois Hollande and Russian President Vladimir Putin. It will be the first meeting between Singh and Hollande after the latter dethroned Nicolas Sarkozy in the recent Presidential elections. As the current Chair of the five-nation BRICS bloc, Prime Minister Singh will also interact with the leaders of the grouping with whom he is not having any bilateral meetings. They include Chinese President Hu Jintao. Besides India and China, the other members of the bloc are Brazil, Russia and South Africa. Obama telephoned Singh last Thursday during which the two leaders agreed to work to make the Los Cabos summit a success. PTI