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Delivered-To: john.podesta@gmail.com Received: by 10.25.24.103 with SMTP id o100csp242727lfi; Wed, 27 May 2015 05:03:18 -0700 (PDT) X-Received: by 10.229.188.137 with SMTP id da9mr16893820qcb.27.1432728198393; Wed, 27 May 2015 05:03:18 -0700 (PDT) Return-Path: <D.Walker@fordfoundation.org> Received: from na01-bn1-obe.outbound.protection.outlook.com (mail-bn1bon0085.outbound.protection.outlook.com. [157.56.111.85]) by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id d93si13310833qgf.92.2015.05.27.05.03.17 for <john.podesta@gmail.com> (version=TLSv1.2 cipher=ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA bits=128/128); Wed, 27 May 2015 05:03:18 -0700 (PDT) Received-SPF: neutral (google.com: 157.56.111.85 is neither permitted nor denied by best guess record for domain of D.Walker@fordfoundation.org) client-ip=157.56.111.85; Authentication-Results: mx.google.com; spf=neutral (google.com: 157.56.111.85 is neither permitted nor denied by best guess record for domain of D.Walker@fordfoundation.org) smtp.mail=D.Walker@fordfoundation.org Received: from BY2PR05CA051.namprd05.prod.outlook.com (10.141.250.41) by CO2PR05MB729.namprd05.prod.outlook.com (10.141.228.12) with Microsoft SMTP Server (TLS) id 15.1.166.22; Wed, 27 May 2015 12:03:15 +0000 Received: from BN1BFFO11FD013.protection.gbl (2a01:111:f400:7c10::1:183) by BY2PR05CA051.outlook.office365.com (2a01:111:e400:2c5f::41) with Microsoft SMTP Server (TLS) id 15.1.172.22 via Frontend Transport; Wed, 27 May 2015 12:03:15 +0000 Authentication-Results: spf=none (sender IP is 70.105.69.50) smtp.mailfrom=fordfoundation.org; gmail.com; dkim=none (message not signed) header.d=none; Received-SPF: None (protection.outlook.com: fordfoundation.org does not designate permitted sender hosts) Received: from FFCULEXCH02.fordfound.org (70.105.69.50) by BN1BFFO11FD013.mail.protection.outlook.com (10.58.144.76) with Microsoft SMTP Server (TLS) id 15.1.172.14 via Frontend Transport; Wed, 27 May 2015 12:03:12 +0000 Received: from FFCULEXCH01.fordfound.org ([172.22.19.10]) by FFCULEXCH02.fordfound.org ([169.254.1.22]) with mapi id 14.03.0210.002; Wed, 27 May 2015 08:03:12 -0400 From: "Walker, Darren" <D.Walker@fordfoundation.org> To: "john.podesta@gmail.com" <john.podesta@gmail.com> Subject: FW: Excellent meeting with the U.S. Ambassador Thread-Topic: Excellent meeting with the U.S. Ambassador Thread-Index: AdCYTtGDF+7loBxfRROno9c52SEcIgAJi+Jw Date: Wed, 27 May 2015 12:03:11 +0000 Message-ID: <72C5FEE740C9034E815045E6800518AB4F9786B1@FFCULEXCH01> References: <A28EFCCF-2C91-438B-B8CC-AF799A4DD582@fordfoundation.org> In-Reply-To: <A28EFCCF-2C91-438B-B8CC-AF799A4DD582@fordfoundation.org> Accept-Language: en-US Content-Language: en-US X-MS-Has-Attach: X-MS-TNEF-Correlator: x-originating-ip: [172.22.19.44] Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable MIME-Version: 1.0 Return-Path: D.Walker@fordfoundation.org X-EOPAttributedMessage: 0 X-Microsoft-Exchange-Diagnostics: 1;BN1BFFO11FD013;1:cRFlWqpwYAC5yjO+Av9wvHaZLXmpSvCIsQOA8D0szodL0ab/2qWipN7bC+qZkjthVP7VKn0f4ycXhSOW441eAjeCay3q4R7j1tsH29v+QRBNcrZ3OEaueQLFtlTIBBkcyXCcecnUUMKHuSXFAhpeSq0iucRVNV/MWQV1y9yo8bkAZlRP1cxIvYmXJBzkJA6GOU+bsnuwrQ0VFGrQtLrmRlKGk3uiNp5ZcQTqu1QBTiyzYL2uiyB4H88SfKeUDxFakmgd0RTjxabu3wVNfmEyow== X-Forefront-Antispam-Report: CIP:70.105.69.50;CTRY:US;IPV:NLI;EFV:NLI;SFV:NSPM;SFS:(10009020)(6009001)(428002)(13464003)(164054003)(199003)(189002)(377454003)(53416004)(5001860100001)(104016003)(5001830100001)(4001540100001)(50986999)(69596002)(87936001)(2656002)(47776003)(64706001)(76176999)(54356999)(50466002)(189998001)(106466001)(2950100001)(68736005)(105586002)(77096005)(2351001)(77156002)(55846006)(102836002)(62966003)(46102003)(6806004)(86362001)(33656002)(107886002)(92566002)(5001960100002)(2501003)(81156007)(97736004)(110136002)(85806002)(101416001)(97756001)(2920100001)(450100001)(46406003)(2900100001)(33716001)(23726002)(217903003);DIR:OUT;SFP:1101;SCL:1;SRVR:CO2PR05MB729;H:FFCULEXCH02.fordfound.org;FPR:;SPF:None;PTR:ErrorRetry;A:1;MX:1;LANG:en; X-Microsoft-Antispam: UriScan:;BCL:0;PCL:0;RULEID:;SRVR:CO2PR05MB729; X-Microsoft-Antispam-PRVS: <CO2PR05MB72959C1DBE1E041425733B0F6CB0@CO2PR05MB729.namprd05.prod.outlook.com> X-Exchange-Antispam-Report-Test: UriScan:; X-Exchange-Antispam-Report-CFA-Test: BCL:0;PCL:0;RULEID:(601004)(5005006)(520003)(3002001);SRVR:CO2PR05MB729;BCL:0;PCL:0;RULEID:;SRVR:CO2PR05MB729; X-Forefront-PRVS: 05891FB07F X-OriginatorOrg: fordfoundation.org X-MS-Exchange-CrossTenant-OriginalArrivalTime: 27 May 2015 12:03:12.9176 (UTC) X-MS-Exchange-CrossTenant-Id: 66fcb87e-deff-4de0-8de5-f5c33c0ca4c3 X-MS-Exchange-CrossTenant-OriginalAttributedTenantConnectingIp: TenantId=66fcb87e-deff-4de0-8de5-f5c33c0ca4c3;Ip=[70.105.69.50];Helo=[FFCULEXCH02.fordfound.org] X-MS-Exchange-CrossTenant-FromEntityHeader: HybridOnPrem X-MS-Exchange-Transport-CrossTenantHeadersStamped: CO2PR05MB729 John--this note is from Xav Briggs, Ford VP who is in Delhi and met with Am= bassador Verma yesterday. Thanks, Darren -----Original Message----- From: Briggs, Xavier=20 Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2015 3:29 AM To: Walker, Darren; Ironside, Alfred; Monteiro, Ken; Jarvis, Kristen Cc: Sunder, Tuhina; Ramdas, Kavita Subject: Excellent meeting with the U.S. Ambassador Excellent because of what I think I got them to understand, not b/c they ga= ve me new info.=20 Ambassador Verma made nearly a full 30 min for the mtg, which I appreciated= since we didn't give him a lot of notice. And his senior team was in the r= oom. Since what matters is not what I said but what they thought they heard, I'l= l focus on their replies -- many of which came with Verma asking 'have we h= eard you right' -- which I found encouraging: -- The Ford Foundation takes the long view and sees adapting to 'shifting s= pace' as an important part of remaining effective and relevant in a wide va= riety of settings across the globe. -- We feel we're in an increasingly good place with the government, with gr= eater clarity on what shaped the past few months and also what the elements= of a resolution and new normal might be. We have been told by senior offic= ials that the government wants us to continue to operate in India. Yesterda= y's positive news story is consistent with this, with the start of a turn, = however modest. -- We do have some immediate operational imperatives and the Indian governm= ent, specifically Home Affairs, could help us resolve them, especially with= Citibank, even if it wants to keep us on a watch list for a while. That co= nversation is in progress. Enforcement authorities can issue all sorts of '= clarification' that create openings without changing the 'watch' status alt= ogether. I used IRS and FBI analogies to explain it to them. Heads nodded. = Verma had been thinking in more absolute terms (can you function while on t= he watch list, yes or no?). -- We see our situation as part of a larger set of moves by the Government = of India to treat civil society differently, to be sure. But we're not head= ed to the barricades. The Ford situation is special, in part because we wer= e ensnared as part of a larger criminal investigation. We see scrutiny and = compliance as legitimate and important everywhere we work. We look fwd to w= orking things out constructively. I briefly explained our long-standing exc= eptional status vs the recent steps Gates took to register in India -- mere= ly as an example. And Modi is no fan of Nehru. Invoking that personal invit= e long ago is not our best card to play. Acting privileged is not our appro= ach to this. -- What would be helpful now is to make sure the USG 'does no harm' (his wo= rds). In general, we should all look to build on the evolving, positive rel= ationship between Obama and Modi and see that this gets worked out in a con= structive way. That's in the interest of both countries, not just the found= ation. I'll write separately about yesterday's encouraging news story about Home A= ffairs 'allaying' our concerns. Darren, you might want to fwd this to JP, who really values real-time updat= es, as Sonal underscored. Xav (Excuse typos, sent from my mobile)