Boucher conducts 'Town Hall Meeting' with students

New Delhi, Aug 7 (UNI) Visiting US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher today told a 'Town Hall Meeting' with students that there would be no shifting of goal posts in the India-US nuclear deal.

''They don't have to worry,'' Mr Boucher told a group of students from city schools and colleges when asked whether the final deal would be far different from the original as feared by Indian MPs.

According to Mr Boucher, who is in-charge of South and Central Asia, the nuclear deal is something new for both India and the US.

''This is new for us and new for you,'' he said and added that it would not be different from what was agreed between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President George W Bush.

Over 150 students from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Lady Shri Ram College, Jesus and Mary College and other colleges took part in the 'Town Hall Meeting' asking the senior diplomat questions ranging from nuclear deal to terrorism and India's bid for permanent membership of UN Security Council to WTO talks.

'Town Hall Meetings' are an American tradition where the public meet their leaders and ask questions. Ex-US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had held a similar meeting when she had visited India during the Clinton presidency.

Organised by the Public Affairs section of the US Embassy, the meeting held at the American Centre also saw the students quizzing the visiting dignitary on US stance on human rights in China.

''It is not for us to tell them what to do,'' Mr Boucher said adding the human rights record of China has ''improved a lot''.

On the US position on India's bid for a seat on the UN high table, he said his country believed that Security Council expansion should go along with UN reforms so that ''people don't play politics with the Security Council''.

Mr Boucher, who is on a 5-day visit, has met MPs, External Affairs Ministry officials and business leaders so far.

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