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'US-India ties outlook bullish'
Thursday, 12 August 2004, 19:30 IST
NEW DELHI: The "tremendous expansion" that US-India relations have witnessed in recent years will continue under the present government as the two countries move towards sealing a strategic partnership, says a senior US diplomat.
"I am pretty bullish about things," said Robert Blake, charge d'affaires of the US embassy here.
He was speaking to a group of six interns of the "Washington Leadership Programme of the Indian American Centre for Political Awareness (IACPA)" at Roosevelt House, the ambassador's residence.
Blake gave an overview of US-India relations, the Pakistan factor and the role of the embassy in moulding and implementing Washington's policies.
He readily admitted in response to a question that the US could have handled "better" the announcement of Pakistan being granted the "Major Non-Nato Ally" status during Secretary of State Colin Powell's visit to the region in June.
"Probably, we could have done a better job of it," Blake said, referring to India's angry reaction to Powell's surprise announcement in Islamabad a day after he had held high-level talks in New Delhi.
Blake said Pakistan's attitude towards terrorism had changed after the two abortive attempts on President Pervez Musharraf's life.
"Attempt on Musharraf's life had a big impact," he said and noted that for the first time Pakistan had given an undertaking to India that its territory would not be allowed to be used by terrorists to carry out their activities.
He was referring to the January 6 joint statement by India and Pakistan following talks between former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Musharraf on the sidelines of the SAARC summit.
"They have realised that you can't play games with Al Qaida," Blake said.
He said India's impressive economic growth, expansion of US-India cooperation touching various aspects - from climate change to HIV/AIDS, environment to alternative energy and defence -- and the shared values like democracy and an open society were driving bilateral ties like never before.
Despite the "short-term political opposition" to outsourcing of jobs to India in the US, the process would continue as the US faces a net labour deficit by the year 2020, when India would be one of the few countries with a labour surplus because of its young population, he said.
"One of the ways to bridge this deficit is through outsourcing, another is through immigration," he added.
He said unlike the previous Indian government, the present one headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may be more "internally and inward looking" but, like its predecessor, it is positive about relations with the US, he said.
He referred to the new steps towards strategic partnership initiated by the two countries and said the greater understanding and cooperation between the two countries would continue to grow in the years to come.
IACPA is a non-profit organisation based in Washington and has for many years done a programme of placing young Indian Americans as interns with influential Congressmen and Senators.
The programme aims to sensitise Indian-American youths about the nature of American politics and motivate them to consider taking up politics a career. Well-known Indian American publisher Gopal Raju is chairman of IACPA.
The programme to bring interns to India for an orientation programme was started last year in association with the New Delhi-based Contemporary Studies Society with a view to sensitising them about issues that impact on India's interests.
The three young men and three women currently here under the programme are interning with political leaders like Reps. Frank Pallone, Garry Ackerman, Marty Meehan, Jim Gevian Langevin and Marcy Kaptur.
Besides Blake, the interns also met Chief Election Commissioner T.S. Krishna Murthy, Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran, National Security Adviser J.N. Dixit, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia among others.
Source: IANS
Source: IANS