Indian National Security Advisor to visit Washington

Menon to visit US this week, counter terrorism high on agenda
Lalit K Jha
Washington, Jan 25 (PTI) Counter-terrorism cooperation
will be high on the agenda during India's National Security
Advisor Shivshankar Menon's meetings with top US officials
including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton here later this
week.
A senior State Department official said Clinton would be
hosting a dinner for Menon, reflecting the high importance she
attaches to America's relationship with India. During his
three-day stay, Menon will meet his American counterpart Tom
Donilon at the White House.
Menon's meetings, the first high-level parleys between
the two countries after the November visit of US President
Barack Obama to India, is considered as a preparatory one for
the next round of India-US Strategic Dialogue to be held in
India's capital New Delhi in April.
Clinton would be leading a high-power US delegation,
including several Cabinet ranking officials, to India for the
Strategic Dialogue; which would be co-chaired by the Indian
Secretary of State and External Affairs Minister S M Krishna.
Menon-Donilon meeting at the White House would also
follow up on the Obama's November visit and review the
progress being done so far.
The two leaders are also expected to discuss situation in
the region, including Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Counter-terrorism co-operation between the two countries
is also expected to be one of the major topics of discussions,
when Menon meets top US officials during his three-day stay in
the US.
"We have an ongoing counter-terrorism cooperation with
India. We share a concern about the threat of terrorism, both
in the region and around the world," State Department
spokesman P J Crowley told reporters at his daily news
conference.
"I can't point to any particular action that we’ve done
in recent days, but we continue to have full cooperation
between India and the United States as well as other
countries," Crowley said in response to a question.