'India to put in place roboust framework after Obama visit'

Lalit K Jha
Washington, Oct 26 (PTI) India hopes to put in place a
robust strategic framework with the US after the maiden visit
of President Barack Obama to the country next month.
Sources said that India's objective from this visit is to
"consolidate the progress achieved" so far and to put in place
a "robust strategic framework" that would herald a strong
India-US partnership bilaterally and on key global and
regional issues.
The deliverables were almost given a final shape,
during the just concluded visit of the top two State
Department officials to India – the Under Secretary of State
for Political Affairs, Bill Burns, and the Assistant Secretary
of State for South and Central Asia, Robert Blake.
This now needs to be vetted by the White House, which
has now scheduled a series of meetings on the Asia trip of
Obama, which will also cover Indonesia, South Korea and Japan.
Officials said Obama visit would take the relationship
to a new level given that there has been significant progress
in Indo-US bilateral relations over the last two years
reflected in the intensity and breadth of engagement between
the officials of the two countries, which they described as
unprecedented.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Obama have met
six times in less than 18 months.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has had about a
dozen meetings with top Indian officials during this period,
including her own travel to New Delhi last year.
Obama has described India-US relations as one of the
defining partnerships of the 21st century- and the new US
National Security Strategy issued in May this year, identified
India-US relations as one of the three key global
relationships for the United States, officials said, adding
that this reflects the growing importance of New Delhi for the
Obama Administration.
"Our cooperation has expanded in scope to cover
cooperation in areas such as security, trade and economic
relations as well as scientific and social sectors," an Indian
diplomat said.
The official requested anonymity because the trip has
not been officially announced yet. (More) PTI LKJ
PRI



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