Thaindian News

By Arun Kumar
Washington, Oct 15 (IANS) US President Barack Obama’s India visit will underscore the importance US attaches to India’s growing leadership in Asia and beyond and how their partnership can build global security and prosperity, says a senior US official.

“We will see India emerge as a global leader as it occupies a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council from 2011-2013,” Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Robert Blake said in a talk Thursday on ‘Strategic Engagement with India’ at Baltimore Council on Foreign Affairs.

The US, he said, had “set out to consult with India more widely about our strategies in South Asia and the Asia Pacific region, as well as on topics of global importance, such as non-proliferation, counter-terrorism and food security”.

Washington now looks forward to working with India on critical global issues such as thwarting Iran’s nuclear weapons programme, fighting piracy in the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea, and reinforcing human rights around the world, Blake said.

“We won’t agree on everything, but our common values will ensure that our policies increasingly mirror each other.”

“India’s broadening influence will reinforce the importance of civilian power,” he said noting the rise of India’s civilian power on the global stage will complement America’s own efforts at rationalising foreign policy and emphasising US civilian power overseas.

US also plans to continue a broad array of defence cooperation with India, he said noting the US has put forward both Boeing’s F/A-18 and Lockheed Martin’s F-16 to compete for the $10 billion tender for the medium multi-role combat aircraft.

If either jet wins, we estimate that it could bring 27,000 jobs to the US, he said. “Equally important, it will help seal our strategic objective of working wing-to-wing with India to bolster global security and stability.”

The Obama visit will also illustrate how India’s economic rise has created new opportunities for mutually beneficial economic partnerships between our two knowledge-based economies.

“Thinking about the emergence of developing powers - be they India, China, Brazil or even Turkey - tends to focus on how the growth of these nations could adversely affect economic conditions here in the United States,” he said.

But “no longer are US-India business ties a ‘one way street’,” Blake said pointing to a recent study by India’s Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry showing that Indian firms are investing almost as much in the US as their American counterparts are in India.

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)