In his letter dated September 23 to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, when he arrived in the US, then Senator Obama while indicating his commitment to move the envisaged Indo-US strategic partnership forward, also called on India to work with him to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
The Indian government never made public this letter and it was a well known secret that it did not do so because it was troubled by Obama urging on the CTBT. Do you think this is going to cause some tension between India and the US?
I don't see why it should. The new administration, as far as I know has not declared itself on the CTBT.
But clearly in that letter Mr Obama called for ratification of the CTBT...
I am not completely familiar with the letter, but the new administration will be looking again at all these policies and deciding where they want to come out and how they want to pursue things.
Every indication I have is that there is a very strong intention to improve the Indo-US relationship, recognising that we have come a long way based on breakthroughs that were made by both parties on both sides and that as the new administration takes over in Washington and India goes through an election and elects a new government there is a strong desire on both sides to say, 'We want to move this into the next level again.'
We are going to have another opportunity to work with India to take our relationship to a new plane.
Image: Will President Barack Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden take India-US to a new level? Photograph: Larry Downing/Reuters.
Also see: It's time for US to listen & not dictate things: Obama
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