Clinton in India
July 20, 2011
Clinton, who is on a three-day visit to India on Monday, has held discussions with the Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna. The talks covered an entire spectrum of bilateral ties and global issues like global terrorism, UN reforms, Asian security architecture and nuclear non-proliferation.
Clinton also met the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and assured him that the United States was "encouraged" by the ongoing talks between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan and promised to give full support to Indian efforts to protect itself from terror. Clinton's arrival followed the blasts in Mumbai on July 13 that killed 19 people and injured more than 130 in the latest reminder of the dangers of terrorism to the region.
Restating President Barack Obama's backing for India's inclusion in a reformed Security Council when he visited India in November last year, Clinton also underlined that India was poised to play an important role in solving problems like piracy and reminded New Delhi of "its duty" to speak out against rights violations in Myanmar.
Commerce, energy and security are chief issues
During her visit to the southern city of Chennai after wrapping up the second strategic dialogue in New Delhi, Clinton said that India's policy of 'Look East' should not only be regarded as a matter of expanding trade. India had to be willing to take on additional responsibility for the security of the region. Clinton's remarks were made against the background of increasing US concerns about Chinese ambitions around its southern perimeter.
"The depth of the US-India strategic dialogue demonstrates America’s strong support for India as an important actor on the world stage and is representative of the broad and multifaceted US-India relationship," said State department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland , and added, "Together, the US and India are working to face the most important and pressing challenges of our time." Prof P R Kumaraswamy, professor at the capital's Jawaharlal Nehru University said,"This is a big opportunity for India and now it depends on the government on how to play out the issues raised by Clinton."
Discussions on the civil nuclear cooperation
Chennai has become an important hub for American investment involving automobile companies like Ford Motors, Caterpillar and others. In this context India raised the issue about the American visa regime, which is impacting the movement of Indian IT professionals in that country.
Foreign minister S. M. Krishna urged the US to give more temporary work visas to Indian IT professionals and Clinton gaven an assurance to the minister that she would direct her officials to look into the matter. "I took the opportunity to convey to Secretary Clinton the concerns of our IT companies in sending their professionals to execute projects and conduct business in the United States. I highlighted that Indian IT companies are contributing to the US economy through investments, employment and supporting US competitiveness," Krishna said after his meeting with Clinton.
The two sides devoted a considerable amount of time to ironing out issues relating to implementing the landmark civil nuclear deal they inked in 2008, a big step forward in India-US relations. Clinton dispelled India's concerns over the new guidelines of the 46-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group that ban the transfer of enrichment and reprocessing (ENR) technologies to countries which have not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and shrugged off irritants clouding the nuclear deal when she said, "We need to resolve remaining issues so we can reap the rewards of a robust civil nuclear energy partnership." She further added, "We are looking to India to ratify the Convention on Supplementary Compensation by the end of this year".
Clinton, who arrived in India after two days in Greece, travelled with a high-powered US delegation, including senior officials from the various departments and agencies, including not only the departments of commerce, energy, homeland security and education but also officials from the Pentagon and the Directorate of National Intelligence.
Author: Murali Krishnan
Editor: Grahame Lucas