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Sunday, November 22, 2009
NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday left for the United States with talks on terrorism and the global economy expected to dominate the agenda.
Singh’s November 22-26 visit to Washington is the first full-fledged state visit of US President Barack Obama’s presidency, featuring a ceremonial welcome and black-tie dinner at the White House.
In a departure statement, Singh said he looked forward to discussing “global threats and challenges of our times, such as international terrorism, climate change ... (and) the global economic slowdown” besides other issues.
“I also expect to discuss the situation in Afghanistan and other regional issues,” he said.
Ahead of the Indian delegation’s departure, the head of the US Central Intelligence Agency, Leon Panetta, met India’s National Security Adviser M K Narayanan in New Delhi and discussed the situation in the region, an Indian official said.
Singh, in his statement, noted the marked improvement in India-US ties in recent years and said New Delhi looked forward to “adding greater substance” to cooperation in areas including trade and investment, energy, defence and high technology trade. The Singh-Obama summit comes days after the US president paid his closely watched visit to Asian giant China last week.
Singh shared a cordial rapport with Obama’s predecessor, former president George W.Bush, who is credited with transforming India-US ties by lifting a three-decade-old embargo against India’s civilian nuclear programme.
The move ended India’s nuclear pariah status and allowed New Delhi access to Western technology and cheap atomic energy.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
