The March 16-visit of US Secretary of State Condeleza Rice to New Delhi is an unprecedented, landmark visit at the most opportune time', said the Indian Foreign Secretary, Mr Shyam Saran, while Inaugurating the ORF-Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Dialogue on East and South East Asia, at Observer Research Foundation (ORF), on March 17, 2005.
"The March 16-visit of US Secretary of State Condeleza Rice to New Delhi is an unprecedented, landmark visit at the most opportune time", said the Indian Foreign Secretary, Mr Shyam Saran, while delivering an address at the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), on March 17, 2005.
Inaugurating the ORF--Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Dialogue on East and South East Asia, Mr Shaym Saran, spoke on the theme "Indo-US Relations: An Overview". He said India was now looking forward to the visit of President George Bush, who has personally committed to take India-US relations to a new sphere.
Mr R K Mishra, Chairman, ORF, Amb M Rasgotra, International Affairs Advisor, ORF, and formeer Foreign Secretary, and Mr B Raman, Distinguished Fellow and Convener, ORF ORF Chennai Chapter welcomed the Foreign Secretary.
Prof Joseph Nye, Dean, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, was present on the occasion.
Mr Shyam Saran said Secretary Rice made it clear in her talks with Indian leaders and officials that the President was very keen to take the Indo-US relations to a new pedestal.
The Foreign Secretary described contemporary Indo-US relations as a "strategic partnership of two great, vibrant democracies' of the world which have to manage multi-ethnic communities. He said he was quite optimistic about the further strengthening of their relationship which encompasses such a wide area and touches almost every aspect of life.
He said India and the US, despite cross-cutting global issues, can work together in many areas like environment, climate change, health issues, HIV and energy.
On the security plane, too, India and the US can work together, as was evidenced in the aftermath of the Tsunami disaster. "When major countries like Germany, Japan talked in the present tense, we were talking in the past tense. America was surprised at the capability of the Indian Navy and the Indian Air force to deal with disasters of such a scale," he said.
He said India was looking for strategic space as an autonomous, economic power in the world. This objective did not clash with the US foreign policy.
Mr Shyam Saran said Secretary Rice's talks with Indian leaders and officials also focused on cooperation in the energy sector, as well on defence R&D cooperation.
He hinted that India is headed towards purchasing defence hardware from the United States. "There is no doubt that the US is the manufacturer of world's most modern and sophisticated weapons. The problem was the predictability, reliability aspect. Secretary Rice has assured us that the US likes to be a reliable partner," he said.
Explaining the prospect of enhanced defence cooperation between the two countries, he said India has the capability to purchase 120 multi-purpose aircraft. He asked how many countries have that kind of capacity, hinting at the huge defence market.
He said India was also privatizing its defence production and the Indian and US defence firms can have stronger cooperation.
Mr Shyam Saran hinted that the US defence sector was also interested in moving some research areas into India.
The ORF Chairman, Mr. R.K. Mishra, emphasized the need to create a consensus to strengthen the Indo-US relations which was necessary for peace, harmony and development in Asia and the world. He said the consensus was necessary because the opinion in India was sharply divided.
Saying that the Indo-US relations should not be seen as a gang-up against others, Mr Mishra said a lot of area will have to be covered to further strengthen the relations between the two countries.
The two-day ORF-CSIS Dialogue is discussing Indo-US relations from different angles and perspectives. Distinguished experts like former foreign secretaries Amb M. Rasgotra (Advisor, International Affairs, ORF) and Amb Shashank, former Ambassadors Mr. Vijay Nambiar, Mr. C.V. Ranganathan, Mr Chandrasekhar Dasgupta (Distinguished Fellow, ORF), Mr Vinod Khanna, Mr Arjun Asrani, former economic advisor to the Prime Minister, Dr S. Narayan, Mr Kiran Karnik, President, NASSCOM, Mr B. Raman, Distinguished Fellow and Convener, ORF ORF Chennai Chapter, who is a former Additional Secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat, and several other experts are participating in the dialogue.
The CSIS side is led by former US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Amb Teresita Schaffer. Its other participants include Mr James Steinberg (former US deputy chief national security advisor), Mr Mathew Daley (former Deputy Head of US Embassy in New Delhi), Mr Kurt Campbell (senior vice-president CSIS), etc.
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