New Delhi:
The July 13 bomb blasts in Mumbai figured very high in the Indo-US strategic dialogue today between US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and External Affairs Minister S M Krishna.
Krishna mentioned the terror attack in his opening remarks at the delegation-level talks and said India appreciated the solidarity shown by the US government.
Hillary Clinton expressed sympathy over the terrorist attack in Mumbai last week. "The United States condemns this attack in the strongest possible terms. We send our deepest condolences to the families of the victims. And we pledge our support to the Indian government. That's why we signed the Counter-Terrorism Cooperative Initiative to increase our cooperation on the investigation of crimes, law enforcement, border management and cyber security."
(Read: Full Statement)Earlier, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived at Hyderabad House to meet External Affairs Minister SM Krishna. The meeting began at around 10:30 am this morning. Clinton touched down in New Delhi on Monday night to begin a three-day visit. After co-chairing the second strategic dialogue with SM Krishna, she will head to Chennai.
She will also call on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and meet Congress President Sonia Gandhi. Clinton's visit takes place barely a week after the triple bombings in Mumbai that killed 19 people and injured over 131. Unlike on earlier such occasions, India has avoided pointing a finger at elements from Pakistan linking them to the blasts.
Implementing the landmark nuclear deal and fresh complications arising from the new guidelines of the Nuclear Suppliers Group which deny access to enrichment and reprocessing (ENR) technologies to countries which have not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) are set to figure in the discussions.
India is also expected to seek a fresh assurance from the US that the new NSG guidelines will not impinge on Washington's commitment to implement full civilian nuclear cooperation, that includes the transfer of ENR technologies, to New Delhi. The new US visa regime on outsourcing which has hit Indian IT professionals is also likely to be discussed.