By Arun Kumar, IANS,
Washington : India has pitched for a robust partnership with two way trade in advanced technology products as it assured US of its commitment to a nuclear liability regime and an unblemished record of safeguarding imported technology
“The government is committed to put in place a nuclear liability regime. We look forward to US companies investing in India,” External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said Wednesday outlining his vision of an India-US relationship transformed by the landmark India-US civil nuclear deal.
Assuring the gathered business leaders at the 35th anniversary meeting of the US India Business Council (USIBC) representing some 300 top American firms investing in India, he said the implementation of the historic civil nuclear signed in 2008 was well within the agreed time line.
“We would like it to be as robust a partnership as we have both envisioned, said Krishna who leads the first India-US strategic dialogue at the ministerial level Thursday with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
He was “confident that our economic partnership holds immense potential for the prosperity of our two countries and for invigorating the strategic partnership between our two countries.”
Thursday’s dialogue, Krishna said, would focus on a broad range of shared interests “from countering terrorism and extremism, advancing nuclear security, working to secure the global commons, and succeeding in Afghanistan to dialogues for co-operation in science and technology, research for clean energy and monsoon prediction, health and education and even a dialogue on women’s empowerment”.
“That will be an important occasion for us to reflect on the remarkable journey that our two great democracies have embarked upon, and to set our sights on new milestones.”
Meanwhile, Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Robert Blake said the US was very much “encouraged” with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s recent statement in which he made a strong pitch for the passage of the nuclear liability bill.
“The US is very much encouraged with the reaction (of Manmohan Singh). We trust the prime minister,” he told reporters.
“How it is managed is something which we cannot decide. We respect the judgement of the prime minister.”
Ahead of the Krishna-Clinton talks, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns are holding a foreign policy dialogue at the State Department which, the officials said, would set the tone for Thursday’s dialogue.
The high-powered Indian delegation includes Human Resources Development Minister Kapil Sibal, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Minister of State for Science and Technology Prithviraj Chavan.
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at [email protected])