US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Indian Foreign Minister S. M. Krishna arrive for the opening plenary session of the US-India Strategic Dialogue at the State Department in Washington.
The United States and India must overcome any lingering doubts about each other as they forge a broader partnership to fight world problems, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said here Thursday.
Opening a day of high-level talks, Clinton echoed Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's November call that the world's “leading democracies must play a leading role in building a shared destiny for all human kind.”
Seated next to Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna and their delegations, the chief US diplomat said: “To fulfill it, we must not only build on areas of agreements but frankly address doubts that remain on both sides.
“Doubts among some Indians that the United States only sees India or mainly sees India in the context of Afghanistan and Pakistan, or that we will hasten our departure from Afghanistan, leaving India to deal with the aftermath.
“Doubts in America that India has not fully embraced its role in regional or global affairs or will not make the economic reforms needed to foster additional progress,” she told delegates seated around a U-shaped table.
“So with this dialogue and the level of confidence that we have established between ourselves, we will confront these concerns directly and candidly,” Clinton said.
She called for both countries to build on a multi-faceted relationship that already includes close cooperation on fighting terrorism, empowering women, eradicating disease, and efforts to improve crop forecasting.
And Clinton highlighted how two-way trade grew to 66 billion dollars last year, about 10 times the level in 1990, and how the United States holds more military exercises with India than any other country.
She praised the dynamism of the private sectors in both countries, but said both Washington and New Delhi must do more to remove red tape.
Krishna started off by calling for cooperating “more closely than ever before” in fighting the terrorism that has hit both countries.
He cited both the deadly 2008 siege in Mumbai and the more recent botched attack in New York's Times Square, both of which were linked to India's neighbor Pakistan.
“Given the fact that the groups who preach the idealogy of hatred and violence are increasingly coalescing, sharing resources and operating as one, it is incumbent upon all of us to focus our efforts laser-like on every one of them,” Krishna said.
“Targeting only one or the other of such groups will only provide false comfort in the short term and will not ensure in the long term stability,” he said.
His remarks appeared to urge Washington to press Islamabad to crack down on all the various militant groups in Pakistan.
Opening a day of high-level talks, Clinton echoed Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's November call that the world's “leading democracies must play a leading role in building a shared destiny for all human kind.”
Seated next to Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna and their delegations, the chief US diplomat said: “To fulfill it, we must not only build on areas of agreements but frankly address doubts that remain on both sides.
“Doubts among some Indians that the United States only sees India or mainly sees India in the context of Afghanistan and Pakistan, or that we will hasten our departure from Afghanistan, leaving India to deal with the aftermath.
“Doubts in America that India has not fully embraced its role in regional or global affairs or will not make the economic reforms needed to foster additional progress,” she told delegates seated around a U-shaped table.
“So with this dialogue and the level of confidence that we have established between ourselves, we will confront these concerns directly and candidly,” Clinton said.
She called for both countries to build on a multi-faceted relationship that already includes close cooperation on fighting terrorism, empowering women, eradicating disease, and efforts to improve crop forecasting.
And Clinton highlighted how two-way trade grew to 66 billion dollars last year, about 10 times the level in 1990, and how the United States holds more military exercises with India than any other country.
She praised the dynamism of the private sectors in both countries, but said both Washington and New Delhi must do more to remove red tape.
Krishna started off by calling for cooperating “more closely than ever before” in fighting the terrorism that has hit both countries.
He cited both the deadly 2008 siege in Mumbai and the more recent botched attack in New York's Times Square, both of which were linked to India's neighbor Pakistan.
“Given the fact that the groups who preach the idealogy of hatred and violence are increasingly coalescing, sharing resources and operating as one, it is incumbent upon all of us to focus our efforts laser-like on every one of them,” Krishna said.
“Targeting only one or the other of such groups will only provide false comfort in the short term and will not ensure in the long term stability,” he said.
His remarks appeared to urge Washington to press Islamabad to crack down on all the various militant groups in Pakistan.
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