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Blackwill sworn in as US envoy to India

Aziz Haniffa in Washington

Professor Robert Blackwill was sworn in on Tuesday afternoon at the White House as the new ambassador of the United States to India by National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.

Blackwill immediately announced that he had been instructed by President George W Bush to further the "enormous opportunity in US-India relations".

Addressing hundreds of Indian Americans, in Washington to attend the tenth annual political summit of the Indian American Friendship Council, which was accorded a special White House briefing, Blackwill, who said he was "just sworn in by my dear friend and colleague Condi Rice", spoke of the "final instructions" he had received from the president.

And that, he emphasised, was to leave no stone unturned in furthering the already blossoming ties between Washington and New Delhi.

Blackwill said Bush had told him that "his strategic objective is to transform this relationship".

The new envoy acknowledged that there are "some ruts" in the relationship, "but on the other hand there are some great opportunities".

Blackwill, who was unanimously confirmed by the Senate last week, said he was blessed to have been nominated ambassador to India. "It was my first choice and one does not usually get one's first choice, but I did and I am so happy," he said.

He said, "I am going to India to do my part to help the president transform this relationship," adding that the view the president had "stressed to me is shared by all the top level of his administration".

"At the very top of the administration, there is determination to work with our Indian counterparts in transforming this relationship," he said.

Blackwill pledged to do the same with Congress and the Indian American community that has been a catalyst in the growth of the relationship -- a far cry from the icy ties that prevailed during the Cold War years.

He iterated that "there are great opportunities in this relationship and I am enormously excited by this opportunity afforded me".

The new envoy, who was mobbed by the Indian Americans attending the White House briefing and who posed for pictures with him, told rediff.com, "I just love this. Seriously, I tell you, I just love this. This is what friendship is all about. I am enjoying working with the Indian American community already."

He went on to invite all those who kept giving him their business cards to look him up in Roosevelt House when they visit New Delhi.

Blackwill, who is expected to be in New Delhi next week, will hardly have time to settle down before several high-level visits by senior American officials -- like Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs Christina Rocca -- and Cabinet members like Trade Representative Robert Zoellick and Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill. These will precede a visit to India some time next year by President Bush himself.

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