News

Richard Armitage to visit India

Friday, 09 July 2004, 00:00 Hrs

NEW DELHI: U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage will be here next week for the first official visit from Washington since the new Indian government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh took office over a month ago.

U.S. Ambassador David Mulford Friday described the visit (July 13-14) as very important as it would be the first senior-level visit by a member of President George W. Bush's administration after the change of government following the general elections.

"The visit reflects the high regard the US attaches to relationship with India," he told reporters, adding Armitage would hold talks with key officials in the government. He would also meet National Security Adviser J.N. Dixit and possibly call on the prime minister.

Armitage had visited India twice in the last two years, the first to defuse tension between India and Pakistan following a terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament that New Delhi said was carried out by Pakistan-based outfits.

"He will be talking about a body of issues that preoccupy us and that underlines the importance of this relationship," Mulford said.

Both the US and India considered their relationship very important, he said and noted that External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh had held talks with Secretary of State Colin Powell during a visit to Washington last month.

"US-India relationship is running at the highest level ever," he said and added "there needs to be a much more comprehensive relationship between the two countries."

He said New Delhi had made a special effort to dispel any notion that there is any change in its policy towards Washington after the change of government.

"India wants to make absolutely clear that there will be no change in the traditional relationship between us and convey that it considered this relationship an absolute necessity, as we do," he said.

Armitage is also likely to visit Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Indian sources said Armitage could also renew the US request for Indian troops for peacekeeping in Iraq, although New Delhi has firmly ruled it out.

Mulford said the interim arrangement in Iraq offered an opportunity to India "to reassess its approach to Iraq" and make use of the "enormous range of opportunities" in that country.

He said a dialogue might have already been initiated between the interim Iraqi government and India. "All we know is that the Iraq government intended to open a dialogue with India, but we don't know if it has begun," he said.

Source: IANS

Don't Miss ( 1-5 of 15 )