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Rocca optimistic that sanctions will be removed by September

US Assistant Secretary of State Christina Rocca has said she is "very optimistic" that post Pokhran II sanctions against India will be lifted before Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee visits America in September.

A delegation of the Indian American Foundation which met Rocca in Washington on Tuesday told that the assistant secretary of state was "very optimistic" that sanctions against India will be lifted before Vajpayee's visit.

This is the first time a possible date for the lifting of sanctions has been mentioned.

Indian Ambassador Lalit Mansingh told the delegation, which met him separately, that India is pressing the US to lift not only the post-Pokhran sanctions but also those imposed earlier.

Deputy chief of mission Alok Prasad said due to these earlier sanctions, China is able to buy from the US supercomputers and other sophisticated equipment, which are denied to the world's largest democracy.

Rocca's optimism was shared by Jonah Blank, chief staff member, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which is headed by Senator Joseph Biden.

The delegation comprising chairman of the foundation, Suvas Desai and board members Navin Shah, Babubhai Patel and legislative director of the foundation Anurag Verma, also met with Gary Ushery, Rocca's deputy, Jeanne Pryor and John Smith-Sreen of USAID (United States Agency for International Development).

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