'Irritants in ties will not affect Obama's visit'

The irritants that have cropped up in recent weeks in relations between India and the United States figured in the meeting between Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on the sidelines of the 65th United Nations General Assembly sessions in New York.

But a senior US official said the 'superb cooperation and goodwill' between Washington and New Delhi would eclipse these hiccups and would not be a dampener on President Barack Obama's visit to India in early November.

Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake, who sat in on the meeting, told reporters in a teleconference that Clinton and Krishna had "agreed that the President's visit will be a defining moment in the history of our bilateral relations," and had "discussed substantive preparations for the visit."

"So we expect this to be a very momentous and consequential visit that will emphasise the importance of India, our common values and our desire to work even more closely with this important friend of ours," Blake said.

He acknowledged that India's angst over the steep hike in visa fees for H-1B and L visas and US business and industry's deep concerns over the Nuclear Liability Bill passed in Parliament were raised by either side, but declared, "In a relationship as large and as wide-ranging and as complicated as ours, there are always going to be these irritants, but what unites us is the fact that there is so much good and so much superb cooperation that is taking place."

"So, that good, common cooperation will help carry us through a lot these irritants and there is good will on both sides to resolve all of these irritants, including things like the liabilities legislation and the visa issue and other things that you mention," he added.

Blake reiterated, "I am confident that we are going to be able to work our way through these," but refused to get into the details on the modus operandi to resolve these issues, "because obviously we want to resolve these in private and not in public."

When pressed on the nuclear liability bill, Blake said he wouldn't want to say "it's an irritant," but admitted, "it's an important priority for the United States."

"We continue to encourage the Indian government to provide domestic and international suppliers, including of course, American suppliers, the opportunity to help India to meet its ambitious nuclear power generation goals," he said.

Blake noted, "We've taken note of some of the concerns that industry representatives have raised about some of the provisions of the liability bill and that the bill may possibly be inconsistent with international standards. So, again, we look forward to working with the Indian government to work our way through this and arrive at a solution where American industry can contribute to India's ambitious civil nuclear energy needs."

Blake said that both he and Under Secretary of State William Burns would visit New Delhi in late October to nail down the final preparations for Obama's visit and "to try to clean up any last minute issues that might still exist and to make sure that everything is ready for the President's very important visit."

Asked if the situation in Kashmir that has heated up again had come up in the discussions between Clinton and Krishna, Blake said, "Actually, it didn't come up at all in the course of this conversation."

He said India's bid for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council, for which it is seeking the unambiguous and unequivocal endorsement of the United States, had not figured in the talks either, but said, "That is something under discussion as we prepare for the President's important visit. (But) I don't have anything to report at this stage. But again, this is under discussion."

Earlier, in his summation of the talks between Clinton and Krishna, Blake said that they had also "discussed our shared commitment to Afghanistan, and Secretary Clinton thanked the minister for the extensive development assistance India has provided Afghanistan and she expressed United States' desire to continue to work closely in that important country."

"The Secretary took the opportunity to thank minister Krishna for India's $25 million contribution to flood relief for Pakistan," he said, and also noted that Clinton had told Krishna that "the United States is encouraged by the impact that the sanctions are having on Iran and stressed the need for the international community to remain united in encouraging Iran to come back to the negotiating table."

Blake also said Clinton and Krishna also had had "a good discussion on the need for the United States and India to continue to work closely together on climate change in order to achieve progress at the upcoming meetings in Cancun."