The Hindu : International / India & World : `India-U.S. ties will progress in spite of political changes'

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Saturday, Sep 11, 2004

International

International - India & World

`India-U.S. ties will progress in spite of political changes'

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, SEPT. 10. Relations between the United States and India transcend party lines and there will be progress in spite of political changes either in Washington or New Delhi, says the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia, Don Camp.

Mr. Camp was participating at a roundtable at the South Asia Studies of the School of Advanced International Studies of the Johns Hopkins University. Several members of the Indo-U.S. Parliamentary Forum and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) participated in the meeting.

He emphasised the growing importance of South Asia and the dramatic changes that have come about in the last several years as a result of growing interaction between the leaders and parliamentarians.

The positive development on India was attributed to a number of factors including New Delhi's support to Washington after 9/11; the importance of stability of the region; the interests of India and the United States on weapons of mass destruction and the future of the economies as it pertained to global trade.

Mr. Camp also pointed to the role of the Indian-American community and the India Caucuses of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Advancements

The Bush administration, according to Mr. Camp, came in with great enthusiasm on the relationship with India and was keen on taking it to ``higher levels.''

He listed various bilateral advancements that have been made in areas such as terrorism, military dialogue and in the regular Asian Security Dialogue that the two countries have been having. ``We are working hard on economic and commercial ties as well.''

Outsourcing

Mr. Camp said that as the United States was a free economy, the Government did not tell the business houses what they should do with investments or outsourcing. There are job cuts in the U.S, ``but there are a lot of reasons for them, not just outsourcing.'' One would have to live with the fact that ``outsourcing is a two-way street.''

B.J. Panda, Biju Janata Dal MP and Co-Chair of the IUPF, said that bilateral ties had ``picked up dramatically'' though the relationship was defined in a cold war paradigm and in a brief ``low point'' of 1998 when India ``officially'' went nuclear.

Y.K. Modi, president of FICCI, said the basics of Indo-U.S. relationship had to be economic. Given the complementarities and problems future deepening is the way to go ahead, he said.

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`India-U.S. ties will progress in spite of political changes'