Clinton takes credit for ending Indo-US rift

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

Washington, July 6: Former President Bill Clinton took credit for ending the 'Cold War rift' between the United States and India, saying that establishing a 'genuine friendship and partnership' between the two countries was one of the achievements of his foreign policy.

In his key-note address to the 16th Annual Conference of the Telugu Association of North America (TANA) here yesterday, Mr Clinton also defended the controversial concept of "outsourcing" which has created new job opportunities in India.

The Association gave a check of one million dollars to Mr Clinton for his Foundation engaged in fighting the curse of HIV/AIDS in India and elsewhere in the world.

Mr Clinton thanked the Telugu community for their gesture and said perhaps the most important thing for him personally was the work that he had been able to do in India in the field of HIV and AIDS.

Earlier, the former president recalled the 1994 visit, to his White House, of the then Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao and said he saw in that the opportunity to restore the relations between New Delhi and Washington, putting behind the divisive "Cold War" era.

He also talked about his role in ending the 1999 Kargil war when he summoned the then Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to Washington DC,and made him agree to a ceasefire.

Mr Clinton spoke about his "great trip" to Hyderabad during his visit to India in 2000. He was the first U S President to visit India in more than two decades. The last such visit took place in 1978 when President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat like Mr Clinton, visited New Delhi.

During this visit, Mr Clinton addressed a joint session of parliament and said that was "something which he will never forget." After demitting the presidency, he had been to India three times, including one during the earthquake in Gujarat. "I've had three great opportunities to continue to work in India for which I am very grateful," Mr Clinton said.

Earlier, former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu had welcomed the U S leader. He was at the helm of affairs when Mr Clinton visited Hyderabad.

Besides Mr Naidu, Sri Sri Ravi Sankar ("The Art of Living"), Vikram Akula (TIME 2006 list of 100 most influential people on the planet), Janaki Akella (McKinsey, Silicon Valley), Srini Akkaraju (2006&2007 Forbes Midas List of top venture capitalists) and Raj Alur (President, TiE Boston) are scheduled to speak at the TANA conference.

The Telugu-speaking people have a sizeable presence in the United States. More than 25 per cent of all Information Technology personnel from India in the United States hail from Andhra Pradesh.

TANA is an organisation of people of Telugu origin residing in North America, numbering over 300,000. It was established in 1977 to "preserve and propagate the Telugu cultural heritage and maintain the identity of people of Telugu origin and to provide a forum for Telugu literary, cultural, educational, social, and charitable interactions among its members." It is one of the oldest Indo-American national level organisations with more than 10,000 members.

UNI

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