WASHINGTON, March 12: India and the US are ready to take their relationship rapidly to a “new level”, Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon said today after the first high-level contact with the Obama administration which ended on a positive note.
Seeing the potential for further transforming the relations, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Barack Obama are expected to have their maiden meeting on the fringes of the G-20 meeting in London next month. New Delhi and Washington are also discussing the likelihood of a visit by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to India “in the near future”, Menon told reporters, wrapping up his four-day visit to the US.
The Foreign Secretary, who met Clinton and other senior officials of the new US administration, discussed progress in the probe into the Mumbai attacks, counter-terrorism, situation in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Sri Lanka besides reviewing Indo-US bilateral ties.
Menon said during his talks he was “reassured” by the US its determination to go through with the Indo-US nuclear deal, signed during the previous Bush administration.
The Mumbai attacks figured prominently during the parleys with Clinton and National Security Advisor Gen James Jones. Replying to queries on Mumbai attacks, Menon said Pakistan needs to do “much more” to bring to book perpetrators of the Mumbai carnage and asked Islamabad to take “credible steps” to dismantle terror infrastructure in its territory. He said India will give more material to Pakistan on the 26\11 attacks as asked by it.
“From our point of view there are two clear goals that we work to and hope that our friends would work to as well,” Menon said.
One is bringing the perpetrators to justice and secondly India would like to see credible action by Islamabad to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism in Pakistan, he said.
On the situation in war-torn Afghanistan, Menon said there was need for an integrated approach to bring in peace and stability to the country.
About the ongoing conflict in Sri Lanka, the Foreign Secretary said devolution of powers to Tamil-dominated areas in northern Sri Lanka is “really the way” to address the problem.
He also said both India and the US have similar approaches to address the issue.
Menon also said India and the US feel that civilians caught in the war should be safely moved to Government-controlled areas. On his talks with US diplomats and officials, Menon said, “I think, we both (India and the US) are satisfied that we have achieved so much in this relationship. But we both want to do much more. That’s why are taking it to a new level.” During his four-day stay in Washington, Menon had as many as 15 meetings with the top officials of the Obama Administration and Jones.
The purpose of his trip to US, Menon said was two-fold. One was to take stock of the bilateral relationship with the new administration and to see how this could be taken forward. “We also spent quite some time in these meetings discussing the situation in our region and the future of them,” he said.
“In the meeting with the Secretary of State, we both reaffirmed the India-US partnership at the global level and she mentioned to me her desire to visit India soon,” Menon said.
Referring to the meetings he had here, the Foreign Secretary said: “In all the meetings with the administration, and in Congress, I found a very strong sense of satisfaction of the growth and the transformation of the Indo-US relations in the last few years and a very strong support for carrying these relations forward and building on the successes that we have achieved.” PTI
Seeing the potential for further transforming the relations, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Barack Obama are expected to have their maiden meeting on the fringes of the G-20 meeting in London next month. New Delhi and Washington are also discussing the likelihood of a visit by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to India “in the near future”, Menon told reporters, wrapping up his four-day visit to the US.
The Foreign Secretary, who met Clinton and other senior officials of the new US administration, discussed progress in the probe into the Mumbai attacks, counter-terrorism, situation in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Sri Lanka besides reviewing Indo-US bilateral ties.
Menon said during his talks he was “reassured” by the US its determination to go through with the Indo-US nuclear deal, signed during the previous Bush administration.
The Mumbai attacks figured prominently during the parleys with Clinton and National Security Advisor Gen James Jones. Replying to queries on Mumbai attacks, Menon said Pakistan needs to do “much more” to bring to book perpetrators of the Mumbai carnage and asked Islamabad to take “credible steps” to dismantle terror infrastructure in its territory. He said India will give more material to Pakistan on the 26\11 attacks as asked by it.
“From our point of view there are two clear goals that we work to and hope that our friends would work to as well,” Menon said.
One is bringing the perpetrators to justice and secondly India would like to see credible action by Islamabad to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism in Pakistan, he said.
On the situation in war-torn Afghanistan, Menon said there was need for an integrated approach to bring in peace and stability to the country.
About the ongoing conflict in Sri Lanka, the Foreign Secretary said devolution of powers to Tamil-dominated areas in northern Sri Lanka is “really the way” to address the problem.
He also said both India and the US have similar approaches to address the issue.
Menon also said India and the US feel that civilians caught in the war should be safely moved to Government-controlled areas. On his talks with US diplomats and officials, Menon said, “I think, we both (India and the US) are satisfied that we have achieved so much in this relationship. But we both want to do much more. That’s why are taking it to a new level.” During his four-day stay in Washington, Menon had as many as 15 meetings with the top officials of the Obama Administration and Jones.
The purpose of his trip to US, Menon said was two-fold. One was to take stock of the bilateral relationship with the new administration and to see how this could be taken forward. “We also spent quite some time in these meetings discussing the situation in our region and the future of them,” he said.
“In the meeting with the Secretary of State, we both reaffirmed the India-US partnership at the global level and she mentioned to me her desire to visit India soon,” Menon said.
Referring to the meetings he had here, the Foreign Secretary said: “In all the meetings with the administration, and in Congress, I found a very strong sense of satisfaction of the growth and the transformation of the Indo-US relations in the last few years and a very strong support for carrying these relations forward and building on the successes that we have achieved.” PTI
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