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Clinton keen on visiting India, says Deora

United States President Bill Clinton has said he is looking forward to visit India early this year.

Senior Congress leader Murli Deora told UNI Sunday that he had met Clinton at the millennium celebrations at the White House and the Lincoln Memorial on the New Year's eve, and in the brief conversation that he had with him, the President evinced keen interest in visiting India.

In the course of their conversation, the president told Deora that the ''benefits of globalisation must be spread evenly while those of democracy must be enjoyed by all.''

The White House planned the president's trip to South Asia about two years ago but kept postponing it for domestic and foreign reasons. Last week, The Los Angeles Times quoting senior US officials reported that Clinton's visit to India may be put off because of the hijacking of the Indian Airlines Flight 814 and its repercussions on the subcontinent. This was immediately repudiated by the Indian ambassador to the United States, Naresh Chandra, who said that the visit would go on as scheduled.

Deora also met US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright who told him that she was ''glad that the hostage crisis is over.'' When asked whether she would be visiting India she told him, ''I am looking forward to visit India,'' but did not say when.

The Congress leader also spoke briefly with the World Bank President James D Wolfensohn. Deora was invited by the Millennium Committee to attend the White House celebrations.

UNI

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