U.S.-India strategic partnership relations upgraded (2)

U.S. President Barack Obama and Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh (L) arrive for the start of a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington November 24, 2009.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
DIFFERENT EMPHASES

The latest U.S.-India summit is fruitful. Thanks to Singh's visit to Washington, the governments of the two countries signed a series of memoranda of understandings, covering the fields of global security and countering terrorism, green partnership, economic trade and agriculture, education and health.

However, while Obama and Singh were enjoying positive results of their talks, the two leaders also tried to demonstrate in some way their own concerns in future bilateral cooperation.

"It is in our strategic interests, in our national security interests, to make sure that al-Qaida and its extremist allies cannot operate effectively in those areas. We are going to dismantle and degrade their capabilities and ultimately dismantle and destroy their networks. And Afghanistan's stability is important to that process," Obama said.

Instead of talking much about anti-terrorism, which was believed to be one of major issues in U.S.-India summit, Singh, who vowed to eradicate violent extremism, seemed to be demanding for more concrete cooperation with Washington.

"Our strategic partnership should facilitate transfer of high technologies to India. The lifting of U.S. export controls on high-technology exports to India will open vast opportunities for joint research and development efforts," Singh said of India-U.S. cooperation.

In terms of environment protection, "I underline India's desire to benefit from clean and energy-efficient technologies from the United States. Our partnership will contribute to global efforts to combat climate change and achieve energy security," the Indian prime minister added.

Source: Xinhua
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