'Hillary's visit will take Indo-US ties to next level'

Robert O Blake, the new Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, making his debut before the House Foreign Affairs Committee Thursday, said Secretary of State Hillary's Clinton's trip to India next month will be a tangible manifestation of the Obama Administration's commitment to take the Indo-US relationship to the next level.

Blake, a career diplomat, who till recently was US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, and prior to that the Deputy Chief of Mission at the Indian Embassy in New Delhi, told lawmakers that "Under Secretary (William) Burns' recent visit to India paved the way for the Secretary to visit later this summer and underscores our commitment to an expanded partnership with India."

At the outset, he said "President Obama and Secretary Clinton have both expressed a deep commitment to building stronger ties with India, a commitment based on mutual respect and mutual interests."

Referring to Clinton's recent remarks when she delivered the keynote address at last week's 37th anniversary of the US-India Business Council, Blake said, "As Secretary Clinton recently put it, 'We see India as one of a few key partners worldwide who will help us shape the 21st century.'"

The new pointman for South Asia in the State Department, said, "The US-India relationship has been on a positive trajectory for over a decade," and once again using Clinton's speech to drive home his point, declared that "Secretary Clinton recently noted that both she and President Obama 'hope that the next stage in our country's relationship will see a dramatic expansion in our common agenda, and a greater role for India in solving global challenges.'"

Blake said "the implementation of the Civil Nuclear Cooperation Initiative established this new level of trust between our countries and set the stage for the next level of US-India cooperation in which we can become global partners while also focusing on India's still huge development needs."

He said the Congress' recent "substantial victory in India's recent elections," augured well for taking US-India relations to the next level because "they have formed a coalition supportive of a stronger US-India relationship and we look forward to working with Prime Minister Singh's government to make that vision a reality."

Blake also said that Washington would "continue to support dialogue between Indian and Pakistani leaders", but added the caveat that "the timing, scope, and content of any such dialogue are strictly matters for Pakistani and Indian leaders to decide".

However, he said the US was encouraged by the recent meeting between Prime Minister Singh and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zaradari at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit on June 16, and noted that "this marks the first meeting of the two leaders since the Mumbai terrorist attacks."

Blake argued that "such high-level engagement in the aftermath of the attacks is encouraging," and reiterated that "India and Pakistan face common challenges, and we will support continuing dialogue to find joint solutions to counter terrorism and to promote regional stability."

In his opening remarks, he spoke of the past several months seeing rapid change in South Asia, with the election in India and the pending elections in Afghanistan, Pakistan's offensive in its northwest and the humanitarian crisis affecting more than two million displaced people, and the cessation of Sri Lanka long running civil war.

Blake said, "These are examples of the challenges and opportunities that require the United States to main its focus on long term objectives, while being nimble enough to respond to a rapidly changing environment.