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.
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You know that we have just had the largest ever US tradedelegation to India just in the last week. We have had our Agriculture Secretaryhere, to talk about an initiative very important to both our countries, butparticularly to the Indian Prime Minister, to see if United States and India cancombine again on a second Green Revolution as we did forty to fifty years ago onthe first.
We have also had a delegation just recently led by our Under Secretary ofDefence to see if we can chart better and greater military cooperation betweenour two Governments. All of this speaks to a relationship that is, as theForeign Secretary says, under significant and positive transformation from theAmerican point of view. We are very pleased about all this cooperation.
We also tried to look ahead today to 2007 and 2007 is going to be a very activeyear in the US-India relationship. We want to see and to conclude of course allthe implementing steps in the civil nuclear accord. We want to fulfill themandate of Prime Minister Singh and President Bush from March 2, 2006. Thisextraordinary number of joint ventures from agriculture to education, to spacecooperation and space launch, to trade, to the CEO forum, all of the differentmeasures that are transforming this relationship into, for the United States,one of our most important global partnerships - strategic partnerships.
As the Foreign Secretary said, we need to look at areas where we can do moretogether. Certainly, counter-terrorism is an area where India and the UnitedStates face very similar threats where unfortunately and tragically Indiancitizens have been killed in terrorist attacks, and the same is true for mycountry. We want to be a good friend and supporter of India in this round and wewanted to chart a new era of cooperation on counter-terrorism.
We also, of course, are partners for peace and for stability. I look forward totalking to the Foreign Secretary this evening and tomorrow about what we can dotogether to bring peace and help to bring peace to Sri Lanka, and stability toBangladesh, and peace in Nepal. Certainly the United States will alwaysencourage and always support steps by India and Pakistan to bring thatrelationship to one of closer cooperation. So, it has been a very good day.
I would like to say a word about the civil nuclear accord. This has occupied alot of our time over the last year and a half. It is a pleasure to talk to theForeign Secretary and a pleasure to see Shyam Saran again and to speak to him.As the Foreign Secretary said, our Congress has been meeting over the last twoweeks to put the two Bills that have been passed by historically large marginsin the House by over 380 votes in the Senate, 85 to 12, to put them togetherinto one final Bill, what we call a Conference Bill, that we hope and expectwill be voted upon in the next thirty six hours or so. That Bill will then besent to President Bush, and I am sure that he will be very pleased to sign thatBill into law.
Since we have not seen the text of the Bill, the Congress has not yet sent it toour Administration, I could not comment on the details because we have not seenthem. But I would say this. Based on my own interaction with Members of Congressand their staff over the last two weeks, I anticipate a very successful andsupportive Bill. I think the Bill that will emerge will support the agreementsof July 18, 2005 and March 2006. It will be, in my judgment, well within theparameters of the agreement that we made between our two leaders in March 2006and again in July 2005. It will be a Bill that will allow us to look towards2007 and to complete all the necessary steps - the bilateral civil nuclearaccord, the 123 agreement, of course, the provisions that India must undertakewith the IAEA, etc., - so that we can put into place we hope as quickly aspossible in the coming year a full agreement and actually have the United Statesand our companies here assisting India to develop its civil nuclear sphere.
It will be a tremendous achievement for both countries, I would say historic.From an American point of view it is particularly significant because it is avery strong bipartisan agreement, by the President’s party, the RepublicanParty, and by the Democratic Party and its leaders in the Congress.
While we have not seen the final Bill, I am very optimistic. It is going to putit in a very good place and we look forward to seeing it and then discussing itwith the Indian Government and having our Congress move ahead.
