Menon arrives in Washington, to meet top US officials

Lalit K Jha

Washington, Jan 28 (PTI) National Security AdvisorShivshankar Menon has arrived here to hold a series ofmeetings with top officials of the Obama Administration,including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Menon yesterday reached here late evening, severalhours after his scheduled arrival, due to inclement weather inthe region because of which his flights had to be diverted.

The NSA is here to review the implementation ofinitiatives launched during the India visit of US PresidentBarack Obama in November and discuss developments in Indo-USbilateral ties in preparation for the upcoming StrategicDialogue in New Delhi this spring, State Department spokesman,P J Crowley told reporters at his daily news conference.

As a result of delay in his arrival due to inclementweather, Menon''s dinner with Clinton was cancelled.

The meeting has now been scheduled for today.

Earlier in the day, Crowley said Clinton is lookingforward to her meeting with Menon. The NSA is today scheduledto meet his US counterpart Tom Donilon at the White Housealong with other top officials of the Obama Administration.

He is also scheduled to meet Under Secretary of Statefor Political Affairs, William Burns.

"Under Secretary Bill Burns will have a detaileddiscussion with the national security advisor and will also beat the White House for a series of meetings hosted by TomDonilon, US National Security Advisor," he said.

"Our US-India Strategic Dialogue is premised on ourstrong support for India''s role as an important actor on theinternational stage," Crowley added.