WASHINGTON, April 12: Indian External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh’s visit to the United States will provide an opportunity to take the Indo-US relationship into a new phase, a State Department official has said. “He and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, when she was in New Delhi, agreed that we had an opportunity to move forward in the US-India relationship, that we were all going to do everything possible to move into a new phase and that we wanted to do that through frequent and productive contacts,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. “And I think we saw this visit as an opportunity to move forward generally in the relationship on many topics that we have before us,” he added.

Mr Singh, during his visit beginning on Tuesday, will meet Mr Rice and members of the US Congress. He was also likely to meet President George W. Bush, an official said.

In New Delhi, a spokesman for the external affairs ministry said Mr Singh’s talks in Washington would focus on expanding Indo-US ties in security, economy and technology.

The issue of reforms in the United Nations, including the Security Council, would figure in the talks, the spokesman said.

While India wants the Security Council to have more permanent members, Washington does not share New Delhi’s enthusiasm on the issue. Mr Singh will leave for India on Thursday and he will be in New Delhi for President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s visit to the Indian capital.