According
to USINFO.State.Gov, President Bush will hosts Indian Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh at a historic summit in Washington, From July 18
to July 20, 2005 to consolidate a strategic, multifaceted partnership.
The
historic summit will expanding and broadening relationship with
India," a senior administration official said July 15.
"President
Bush and Prime Minister Singh have a very strong personal relationship."
(1)
"What
this visit would be doing is reaffirming at the highest level
the transformation that is taking place in India-U.S. relations,"
Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran said. "What we are really
looking at is a genuine partnership between India and the U.S."
(2)
USINFO.State.Gov,
shows that India was the first country to make a specific
financial commitment to the United Nations' Global Fund for Democracy,
just announced by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on July 4
which is an initiative proposed by President Bush and the
United States
also will be making a contribution. After
the meeting and press conference, the two governments are planning
to announce bilateral programs dealing with HIV/AIDS, the environment,
information technology, business promotion, financial and economic
issues, energy, space cooperation, disaster response, agriculture,
science and technology, and even with preserving the endangered
Bengal tiger.
USINFO.State.Gov
stated that The United States will accord Prime Minister Singh
the full honors of a state visit with Indian flags decorating
the streets of Washington, a ceremony on the White House lawn,
a state luncheon hosted by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
and a state banquet hosted by President Bush. The Indian prime
minister will be accorded the honor of addressing a joint session
of the U.S. Congress.
"Both
countries which have advanced technology sectors want to use the
advantages of modern technology to accomplish that," the official
said that the president and the prime minister will have that
as one of the top issues on their agenda on Monday [July 18]."
Regarding
India's desire to have a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council,
the official said that the U.S. government considers India to
be one of its closest friends in the world, but overall reforms
of the U.N. structure are needed before discussing which countries
should sit on the Security Council.
"It's
the conviction of the U.S. government," the official said, "that
right now the United Nations General Assembly needs to focus on
the fundamental pillar reforms" that need to be made on strengthening
the United Nations on financial, budget and secretariat reforms;
on establishing a new U.N. human rights council, a peace-building
commission and a U.N. democracy fund; and also on adopting a United
Nations convention on terrorism. "Those are the priorities," the
official said.
India's
economic reform programme will be a booming information technology
industry, its military might and potential as a counterweight
to China have all combined to bring New Delhi closer to Washington.
It
is positive to see that U.S. is open to considering expanding
the membership of the Security Council and continue to seek for
global importances......
References:
1)
http://usinfo.state.gov/usinfo/Archive/2005/Jul/15-436251.html
By
Phillip Kurata
Washington File Staff Writer
2)
http://in.today.reuters.com/news/NewsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2005-07-15T073947Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-209331-1.xml
