US, India strategic dialogue will deepen ties: US

New Delhi, Jul 21: Making the US-India ties more stronger, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and External Affairs Minister, SM Krishna have signed three major agreements in defence, space and science & technology on Monday, Jul 20.

New Delhi and Washington have also decided to open a new strategic dialogue which will encompass the key areas of energy, education and finance and will also be a forum for interaction among academics, civil society groups and intellectuals of the two countries at the non-governmental level.

India raised some issues of concern when signing the defence and technology agreement regarding the protectionist policies pursued by the obama administration. External affairs ministry officials told that the visiting US delegation did not have plausible answers to these issues.

A new technology safeguards agreement that was signed will allow the launch of satellites with US payloads and equipment from Indian soil. This was not permitted so far. But the use of such satellites will be monitored to prevent diversion or misuse of high- technology US equipment.

The new strategic dialogue between the two will rest on five pillars which includes health, education, energy, finance and defence ties. In a press conference, Clinton said, "The strategic dialogue was key to 'deepening and broadening' the relationship between the two countries."

OneIndia News