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India is a global power: Rocca

US assistant secretary of State-Designate Christina B Rocca has said India has acquired a 'global status' as its role has extended beyond South Asia, while Pakistan has emerged as a 'regional power'.

"This can only be to the good, and we welcome India's new global status. But with that new role comes new responsibilities - economic, political and military. In those areas, the US and India can, with effort and co-operation, be partners," Rocca said during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

She said the past few years have seen the beginning of a transformation in "our relationship with the world's largest democracy".

"Now is the time to complete that transformation. India's economic potential, following a decade of free market reform, is immense. We are India's largest trading partner, but bilateral trade remains far below where it should be," she said.

She said the US relations with the "two anchors" of South Asia - India and Pakistan - has tremendous potential.

"Too often that potential has gone unrealised. I believe stability and success rest on development. We in the US have a lot to learn from cooperation with these two good friends, and it will be a mistake on all of our parts to allow ourselves to be trapped in the mistakes of the past. The time has come, individually and together, to move forward," Rocca said.

"Pakistan is an important regional power and an important Islamic power. For those reasons and so many more, the Bush administration is committed to working through difficult economic, political and social challenges now facing Pakistan. Where we can cooperate, in areas such as counter-narcotics, we must continue," Rocca said.

"Where we do not cooperate optimally, for example on Afghanistan, we must work harder to show Pakistan the shared threat we face from the regime in Kabul."

Talking about the South Asian nations as a whole, she said the region was home to more than fifth of the world's population. "Even a cursory look makes it obvious why we have strategic, political and economic interests throughout South Asia. The nations of South Asia cover the spectrum of the United States' most vital interests in the world today".

On the negative side, "we face terrorism, the spread of weapons of mass destruction and drug trafficking," she said.

She said each in South Asian nation, which faced seemingly intractable problems, there is a chance to work with governments that want to "confront those problems with us, to receive our assistance and to work to assuage our concerns."

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