India An Ever Changing Place, Says John Kerry

New Delhi: U.S. Secretary John Kerry made a strong pitch for India and the U.S. cooperating in clean energy and said the U.S. is keen on implementing the Indo-U.S. civil nuclear deal "as soon as possible". Describing India as a nation that would soon become the most populous and the third largest economy in the world, Kerry touched on defence cooperation, India-Pakistan relations, on Afghanistan, the contributions of the Indian American community and also on the Delhi gang-rape victim and the street protests in his over 40-minute speech at the India Habitat Centre.

He described India as an "ever changing place" and that both sides have to move together with the current.

Beginning his address on U.S.-India Strategic Partnership with a "Namastey", Kerry also offered condolences for the Uttarakhand flood devastation deaths and said it was a pointer to how climate change could affect the world.

He said India should tap the new clean energy market worth $6 billion which would also help create new jobs.

He made a forceful pitch for India and Pakistan to boost economic ties and said it could be the harbinger of a "new era of ties" between the neighbours and help bring in "a level of trust".

Kerry, who arrived earlier in the day on a three-day visit, said he welcomed the increase of "21 per cent" in India-Pakistan trade.

He said if India and Pakistan can "confidently invest in each other than the rest of the world will more confidently invest in you".

On the Indo-U.S. civil nuclear deal, he said the U.S. "looks forward" to realising its implementation "as soon as possible".

"That agreement demonstrates our mutual confidence of our strategic partnership", he said, and added that "We look forward to realising its full implementation as soon as possible" including in the efforts of Westinghouse to construct nuclear power plants in India.

Kerry also reiterated that the U.S. backs India's inclusion as a permanent member of a reformed and expanded UN Security Council and as a member of the four multilateral export control regimes (the Nuclear Suppliers Group, Missile Technology Control Regime, Australia Group, and Wassenaar Arrangement).

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