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Second round of Indo-US strategic dialogue postponed

March 11, 2011 12:50 IST
The second round of the Indo-United States strategic dialogue, co-chaired by External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has been postponed in view of the Assembly elections in India and ongoing developments in West Asia and North Africa.

Scheduled to be held in the beginning of April, the dialogue will be now rescheduled for the earliest available opportunity, Ministry of External Affairs said in New Delhi on Friday.

"In view of the state elections in India and ongoing developments in West Asia and North Africa, the two sides have decided to reschedule the strategic dialogue and will hold it at the earliest available opportunity. The date for the talks will be decided through mutual consultation," it said.

Acting as a principal mechanism for advancing bilateral cooperation across the full spectrum of the relationship between India and the US, the dialogue also provides an opportunity to both sides to exchange views on global and regional issues of mutual interest.

Giving the details of the important bilateral events over the next few weeks, the ministry said it will include the visit of Commerce Secretary to Washington, the meeting of the India-US joint working group in counter terrorism on March 25 in New Delhi.

Apart from this, the meeting of the High Technology Cooperation Group is scheduled in May and the India-US Higher Education Summit in June 2011 in Washington.

The first Homeland Security dialogue and the meeting of the joint working group on space cooperation will also be scheduled in the coming weeks, the ministry said.
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