WASHINGTON, June 14: Indian National Security Advisor M. K. Narayanan is going to Washington on Thursday to finalize Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s US visit next month. During this visit, Mr Narayanan will also have his first formal meeting with his US counterpart Stephen Hadley.
Diplomatic sources told Dawn that Mr Narayanan will be in Washington till June 20 and is expected to meet US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman and Chief Economic Advisor to President George Bush, Alan Hubbard. The details of Narayanan’s visit were firmed up after India’s Ambassador to the US Ronen Sen met Mr Hadley in the first week of June.
Mr Narayanan is expected to review the issues that will come up in the Bush-Singh meeting with senior White House officials, the sources said.
The focus of Mr Narayanan’s visit is to follow up on the US offer to help India build civilian nuclear reactors to meet its energy requirements.
The energy dialogue between the US and India would be broken up into five sub-groups, one of which will be dedicated to civilian nuclear energy. The other components will be new and emerging technologies, use of clean coal, hydrogen for producing energy besides oil and natural gas.
Mr Narayanan will also review the bilateral agreements that are expected to be signed during Mr Singh’s visit. Diplomatic sources in Washington say that India expects to sign 20 such agreements with the United States.
The US and India are also expected to sign a number of defence-related agreements during Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s visit later this month with a possible protocol on joint production of military hardware.
