Clinton,Krishna to chart out course for future development

“At the forthcoming Strategic Dialogue,we also hope to have new initiatives in the field of civil aviation,and in the area of cyber-security,” said a senior Indian diploma here.

“Besides bilateral issues,there would be discussions on regional issues including the situation in our neighborhood,developments in the Asia-Pacific and in the wider Middle-East,” the official said,adding that the two countries are working to have the India-US Higher Education Summit in Washington in October this year.

The India-US Strategic dialogue,the first meeting of which was held in Washington last year,provides an opportunity to review the entire spectrum of the bilateral relations.

It is based on five pillars (i) Strategic Cooperation,that includes defence cooperation and counter-terrorism cooperation; (ii) Energy and Climate; (iii) Economics,Trade and Agriculture; (iv) Science,Technology,Health and Innovation; and (v) Education,Development and Empowerment,the official said.

At the upcoming talks,the two co-chairs will review the considerable progress the two countries have made in the ties since the historic visit of Obama last year and also chart out a course for future development,said the official,who has been engaged in the preparations of the talks.

Since the Obama visit in November,the official pointed out,there has been an intense high-level engagement.

“During this year we have had visits to India by US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke; Senate Minority leader Senator Mitch McConnell; Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano,” the official said.

From India there were visits of the National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon,Commerce Minister Anand Sharma and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

Some of the meetings that have already taken place included the High Technology Cooperation Group (HTCG) in Delhi on 11-12 July; Strategic Security Dialogue with Under Secretary Tauscher in Vienna last month; Aviation Steering Group meeting; ICT Joint Working Group meeting; and the Defense Policy Group meeting.

In the months since the visit of Obama,considerable progress has been made in a wide range of areas.

While United States has delisted ISRO,DRDO and BDL from its Entities list,it has also re-categorised India in some of its control lists.

New Delhi and Washington are also coordinating closely with the US on the issue of India’s membership in four multilateral export control regimes,the official said.

The Homeland Security Dialogue,launched in late May during the visit of Secretary of Homeland Security along with the Counter-Terrorism Cooperation Initiative that was signed last year will provide a structured mechanism for furthering the cooperation in counter-terrorism,the official said.

“We are making steady progress in developing joint projects in the area of food security and agriculture in some African countries; as also for capacity building in Afghanistan,” the official said,adding that the strategic consultations between the two countries have expanded.

“We already have a dialogue on the Asia-Pacific. This week we will also have the first dialogue on West Asia. This is an outcome of the decision taken during President Obama’s visit,” the official added.

The US is also helping us map India’s shale gas reserves pursuant to the MoU for cooperation signed during Obama’s visit.

“A Monsoon Desk has been established in NOAA and is working with the Meteorological Survey of India and ISRO for better weather forecasting in India,” the official said.