Purpose of Clinton visit to strengthen strategic ties: US

Lalit K Jha

Washington, Jul 16 (PTI) The purpose of US Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton's visit to India is to strengthen and
broaden the strategic partnership between the two countries, a
top Obama Administration official said on Thursday.

"The purpose of the visit is to broaden and strengthen
the strategic partnership between the US and India," said
Robert Blake, the Assistant Secretary of State for South and
Central Asia.

Briefing reporters on Clinton's trip to India, Blake said
the purpose is also to highlight the extensive cooperation
that is already taking place between the non-governmental
folks in both India and the US.

"That is our business people, our scientists, our
academics, our students, and so many other people. And those
really underpin our relations and kind of propel them forward.
So we really want to highlight those during the trip," he
said.

"We believe that the strong showing of the Congress
Party, Prime Minister (Manmohan) Singh's return to office, and
then President Obama's very strong support for strengthening
ties with India really opened the way for a new and
invigorated partnership between the US and India," Blake said.

Reiterating the commitment of the new US Administration,
Blake said both US President Barack Obama and Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton see India as an important partner for
America not only in addressing bilateral issues, but also in
kind of working with it to shape the world of the 21st
century.

"So in terms of what we're trying to accomplish, the
Secretary and her counterpart, Foreign Minister Krishna, will
announce on Monday the elements of our new partnership," Blake
said, without going into details.

"Broadly speaking, what we are going to do is continue
the successful cooperation we have had on things like defence
cooperation, counterterrorism, trade, while also forging new
initiatives on things like agriculture, education, science and
technology, and women's empowerment," he said.

Obama and Clinton also think there is a scope for broader
engagement with India on some of the big global challenges of
the world, including things like climate change and
nonproliferation, he observed.

Clinton leaves Washington for India Thursday night
(Friday morning India time). The US delegation headed by
Clinton would arrive in Mumbai Friday night, with the first
event scheduled for Saturday. In Mumbai, she would be doing
some events with business people, meeting with a local women's
association, and then she'll have an event with a lot of youth
who are doing volunteer work in their communities, Blake
informed.

In New Delhi, Clinton would meet on Monday her
counterpart S M Krishna, besides meeting Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh. Clinton would also meet Congress party chief
Sonia Gandhi and Leader of the Opposition L K Advani.

She also plans some people-to-people events in New Delhi,
he said. "She will do an event at a green building to
highlight some of the possibilities for working together on
clean energy and climate change.

Clinton will also have an event to showcase some of the
cooperation that is taking place between our scientists,
agronomists, and NGOs and foundations on agriculture. And then
she will have an event at a local university that will be an
interaction with students and so forth," Blake said. PTI LKJ
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