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India is one of the key countries that will shape the 21st century, believes Robert D Blake, assistant secretary of state for south and central Asian affairs in the Barack Obama administration.
Keynoting a conference titled 'Natural allies? US-Indian Relations in the Obama Era', organised by the Washington-based think tank American Enterprise Institute on Monday, Blake stressed that India's importance to the United States has not diminished under President Barack Obama's administration as is being speculated in certain quarters.
'The time of today's programme is very opportune. As you know, in a few weeks time Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is going to India to announce new strategic partnerships between our two great nations," Blake said.
"Secretary Clinton's visit will answer some of those who were whispering that President Obama's new comprehensive strategy on Afghanistan and Pakistan has somehow caused a diminution of India's importance to the United States," Blake, a career foreign service officer who was deputy chief of mission in New Delhi from 2003 to 2006, said.
Clinton, during her first visit to Asia after being appointed Secretary of State, had not included India on her itinerary, giving rise to speculations that the Obama administration was not warming up to India as much as the Bush administration did.
But Blake sought to dispel such impressions. He said the strengthening of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's position after the Lok Sabha elections and President Obama's support for India has opened up ways for a new and vigorous partnership with India.
"This is a time of great optimism and great promise in our relations with India. We two countries have agreed that we have to wait for the outcome of India's recently finished elections before charting a new course in our relations," Blake said.
Referring to Clinton's address at the US-India Business Council meeting last week, he said both the President and the Secretary of State have repeatedly talked about their deep commitment towards strengthening Indo-US partnerships.
India and the US plan to work together to expand cooperation in bilateral and global issues, said Blake, adding that defence cooperation to modernise India's military was high on the US' agenda.
"US technology can, and should be, a part (of modernising Indian military). We are working hard to conclude bilateral agreements so military to military cooperation can continue in the positive trajectory," he said.
According to Blake, the Obama administration also plans to work with India to expand bilateral cooperation in other areas, including education, low-cost healthcare and women's empowerment.
Blake, who mostly reiterated what Clinton said in her speech at the USIBC conference in Washington last week, said the Indo-US nuclear agreement has created a wide range of opportunities and helped India meet its energy needs and strengthen the global non-proliferation regime.
But Blake noted that India has not filed a declaration of safeguard facilities with the International Atomic Energy Agency to complete the steps of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
'We hope the government of India will soon be in a position to announce two nuclear reactor park sites that will be designated for US firms. We also hope that India will approve liability protections for US companies," he said.
'These steps will open the way for billions of dollars in new civil nuclear trade and investment,' Blake said.
The US is ready to help India with technology, research and sharing the best practices, he added.
'President Obama captured the length and breadth of this relation when he said that 'our rapidly growing and deepening friendship with India offers benefits to the world citizens," he pointed out.
Noting that US and India are increasingly natural allies, Blake said in his brief speech that India and the US share 'a growing convergence' of the two countries' interests and values, for which there is bipartisan support both in the US and in India.
"During our recent visit to India, along with Undersecretary of State William Burns, to prepare for the visit of the Secretary of State, we heard from our interlocutors that 'the sky is the limit' when it comes to Indo-US relationship," he said.
"The stage, therefore, is set and the curtain is rising for US-India 3.0 relationship," Blake said, borrowing a phrase from Clinton's speech, to indicate that the third phase of the burgeoning Indo-US relationship has begun.
"Our governments and our people will help shape the course of the 21st century," Blake asserted.
Video: Paresh Gandhi