Shivshankar Menon: Good evening ladies and gentlemen.I am very happy to be here with Under Secretary of State Burns.
We have had a very productive day today. We have had a series of talks rightthrough the day where we reviewed the development of our bilateral relationsbetween India and the US. We also discussed regional issues. In the afternoon,he held discussions with PM’s Special Envoy Shyam Saran on the civil nuclearagreement that we have between India and the US.
The atmosphere throughout was very positive, very constructive, very forwardlooking. During the bilateral review we naturally reviewed the state ofimplementation of the 18th July (2005) and 2nd March (2006) Joint Statements.The last year or so has seen an unprecedented engagement both in terms of depth,in terms of levels, in terms of the wide range of subjects which we have coveredbetween the US and India. So, our job was really quite easy. We noted theprogress in all the areas, in trade, in the economy, in energy, in agriculture,IPR issues, space, high-tech, defence, global issues, it really was quite a wideranging discussion. We are working now on initiatives in each and every one ofthese fields. We also discussed expanding the horizon of cooperation and lookforward to the next year and we hope to continue these discussions today andtomorrow while Under Secretary Burns is here with us here in India.
We also covered regional and international issues where we discussed questionsrelating to South Asia, to West Asia, and also decided to step up ourcooperation in counter-terrorism, an area where we have a clear common interest.In the afternoon when Mr. Shyam Saran was there he discussed the implementationof the nuclear understandings that we have arrived at between India and the US.Of course, we are awaiting the outcome of the Congressional deliberations. We donot have the text yet of the Bill but Mr. Burns is good enough to give us anidea, a sense of what is happening in Washington.
Overall, at the end of the day I would say that India-US relations are in aprocess of transformation. The nuclear cooperation is just one part of thisoverall transformation in the relationship which we are very satisfied and weare looking forward to continuing this. Our conversations today with UnderSecretary Burns give us confidence that this will continue. I would now invitehim to say a few words to you and then we will both take questions.
Nicholas Burns: Foreign Secretary, thank you very much. It is a pleasureto be back in Delhi and in India, and it is a pleasure to be with you and toaccept your invitation to participate in this strategic dialogue. ForeignSecretary and I are new partners and we have had an excellent day, a day of veryfriendly, very productive discussions on our bilateral relationship. We began totalk about the wider region and some global issues which we will continue todiscuss this evening and again tomorrow.
But I would characterize this period as a period of, a time of greataccomplishment in US-India relations, a time of some success and I think someoptimism about the future of this relationship. It has been a year and halfsince Prime Minister Singh came to Washington for that historic meeting on July18, 2005 with President Bush and the two leaders established an ambitiousframework for this relationship. The Foreign Secretary and I are trying to helpour two Governments fulfill that vision, and I think in large part we are doingit.