New Delhi, July 19 (ANI): Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna on Tuesday revealed that both New Delhi and Washington have expressed satisfaction with the momentum of their bilateral relationship and all round progress of cooperation.
Taking part in a joint press interaction here after the second US-India Strategic Dialogue, Krishna said in his opening statement: "Ladies and gentlemen, Secretary Clinton and I met for two and a half hours and then continued our discussions over lunch. We reviewed our bilateral relations. We discussed our vision and ambitions for the relationship. And, we discussed a broad range of regional and global developments. We expressed satisfaction at the momentum in our relationship and all round progress in our cooperation. We welcomed the maturity and mutual confidence in our relationship."
Krishna further revealed in his opening statement that both India and the United States have expanded political consultations, touching on all major issues and regions of the world.
"Our intelligence and counter-terrorism cooperation has deepened. Our non-proliferation partnership has grown. We are working towards expanding bilateral economic ties. There are extraordinary examples of our cooperation to harness the power of science, technology and innovation to address challenges in the realm of healthcare, education, environment, clean energy and agriculture," Krishna said.
He added: "Our two governments have instituted a number of innovative programmes for advancing our cooperation in clean and renewable energy and energy efficiency. We are pleased with our progress in this area. We are creating opportunities for our youth and empowering our people. And, now we are extending the benefits of our cooperation to other countries in areas like food security."
Krishna further said: "We reiterated our commitment to taking forward civil nuclear energy cooperation on the basis of full implementation of mutual commitments. We were reassured that United States reaffirmed its commitment for full civil nuclear cooperation. I expressed appreciation for our ongoing engagement and full support of the US for India's full membership of the four export control regimes and our expectation of progress in tandem on the four regimes. We discussed UNSC reforms and India's permanent membership of a reformed UN Security Council."
"We stressed the importance of defence cooperation in our strategic partnership and expressed satisfaction at the progress we are making in defence cooperation, including in defence trade and collaborations, through our various bilateral defence mechanisms," he added.
He also said that New Delhi and Washington have acknowledged that there was enormous potential for further expansion of two-way investment flows.
"We have agreed to resume negotiations on a bilateral investment treaty. I also 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. I also requested Secretary Clinton to consider a Totalisation Agreement with India. I thanked Secretary Clinton for her assurance that she will work with the concerned US agencies to seek an early and satisfactory solution for the students affected by the closure of Tri-Valley University," Krishna said.
He added that both sides had good discussions on terrorism in our region, both during the dialogue and in other meetings on the margin.
"We resolved to intensify our cooperation to fight terrorism. Both sides remain committed to comprehensive sharing of information on the Mumbai terror attack of 2008. We have also increased our engagement in the important area of cyber security. We are pleased with the MOU for cooperation between the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN) and the U.S. CERT," Krishna said.
The minister also revealed that both sides discussed the challenges in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and bilateral efforts to address them.
"We agreed to remain in close touch as the transition phase gets underway in Afghanistan. We also discussed our efforts for reconstruction, development and capacity building in Afghanistan. We acknowledged that regional trade, transit and commercial activities in South and Central Asia would benefit Afghanistan and support regional stability and prosperity. We underscored the importance of elimination of terrorist sanctuaries in Pakistan for regional stability and security and for Pakistan's future," Krishna added.
"We discussed our shared interest in peaceful and stable Asia, Pacific and the Indian Ocean region, and the evolution of an open, balanced and inclusive architecture in the region. We will continue to work together, and with other countries, towards this goal through various mechanisms, such as our bilateral dialogue, the regional forums and our trilateral dialogue with Japan. Secretary Clinton and I will continue this engagement in the ARF meeting later this week," Krishna said.
He described Tuesday's meeting as "truly productive and comprehensive", consistent with "our strategic partnership and the extraordinary breadth of our engagement." (ANI)
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