|
|
|
| 22 September 2004 | Wednesday | 06 Shaban 1425 |
Bush, Singh discuss strategic partnership
NEW YORK, Sept 21: US President George W. Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh committed themselves to exploring potentials for promoting a strategic partnership between their nations when they met for a breakfast meeting on Tuesday.
Both Indian and US officials described the talks as "a meeting of minds". "He's the leader of a great country and the leader of a friend of the United States," Mr Bush told reporters when Mr Singh arrived at New York's Waldorf Astoria hotel for the meeting.
"Under your distinguished leadership, our two countries' relations have grown in diverse ways, but I do believe that the best is yet to come," said Mr Singh while responding to President Bush's remarks.
Indian officials later told reporters that Pakistan was deliberately not the focus of the meeting because New Delhi wanted to build a separate equation with Washington, not linked to its disputes with Pakistan.
Recently, senior Indian officials visiting the United States also had acknowledged that they were aware of US dependence on Pakistan's role as a partner in the war on terrorism and wanted to formulate their policies accordingly.
Yet Mr Singh could not stop himself from repeating the Indian claim that while India was committed to the peace process with Pakistan it expected that assurances on ending cross-border terrorism must be kept.
Indian officials later said they hoped Mr Bush would convey this message to President Pervez Musharraf when the two leaders meet on Wednesday. Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran later told a briefing that Mr Bush agreed with the Indian point of view on the issue of terrorism, saying that terrorism of any kind anywhere must be stopped.
"We have clearly articulated our point of view," said Mr Saran. Mr Singh told Mr Bush that India was committed to the peace process but Pakistan must keep its side of the bargain if it wanted the Indian people to support the process as well.
The two leaders agreed that the recent agreement on the strategic partnership had 'opened the way' for both to meet global challenges such as terrorism and economic issues, officials said.
In a joint statement issued at the end of an hour-long meeting, the two sides agreed to increase defence cooperation in the future, including sale of US weapons. Indian officials, however, said Mr Singh did not specifically ask for US support for India to be a permanent member of the UN Security Council, which is a major focus of his visit.
He got an assurance from Britain just before landing in New York for India's effort to join the council. But Indian officials indicated that they believed the Americans were not yet ready to come out openly to support India's case, and Mr Singh did not want to embarrass his host by raising this issue.
Mr Bush and Mr Singh also agreed to develop a cooperative strategy on trade issues, specially the difficult trade negotiations of the Doha development agenda in the World Trade Organization, officials said.
Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh, National Security Adviser J.N. Dixit, Indian Ambassador to the US Ronen Sen and Mr Saran accompanied Mr Singh to the meeting. Mr Bush was flanked by his top cabinet members, including Secretary of State Colin Powell, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and chief Iraq adviser Robert Black will.
|
|
|
|