Thaindian News

By Arun Kumar
Washington, Sep 8 (IANS) Declaring that “a new American moment” had arrived, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Wednesday said that President Barack will use his November visit to India to take its relationship with an “indispensable” partner to the next level.

“The emerging powers represent a spectrum of interests and values,” Clinton said in a wide-ranging speech at the Council on Foreign Relations, outlining the Obama administration’s foreign policy approach.

“India, for instance, is the world’s largest democracy, a country with which the United States shares fundamental values and a broad range of national interests,” Clinton said talking about efforts “to deepen engagement with (these) emerging centres of influence”.

“That convergence of values and interests has helped us to lay the foundation of an indispensable partnership,” she said adding that “President Obama will use his visit in November to take our relationship to the next level”.

Declaring that “a new American moment” had arrived Clinton said: “This is a moment that must be seized - through hard work and bold decisions - to lay the foundations for lasting American leadership for decades to come.”

As part of these efforts, she said, the US was trying to “deepen engagement with these emerging centres of influence” that are growing rapidly and already playing more influential roles in their regions and in global affairs, such as China and India, Turkey, Mexico and Brazil, Indonesia and South Africa, as well as Russia”.

In the Asia-Pacific region, the US had “reaffirmed our bonds with close allies like South Korea, Japan and Australia”, Clinton said. “We also deepened our regional engagement with China, and with India, which we see as a vital Asian democracy.”

US efforts on climate change offer a good example of how it was working through multiple venues and mechanisms to advance its goals, she said citing Obama’s role at the Copenhagen conference on the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

“When negotiations in Copenhagen reached an impasse, President Obama led our team into a meeting of key leaders that included China, India, South Africa, and Brazil - working with them and our colleagues from Europe and elsewhere to fashion a deal,” Clinton said.

“While far from perfect, (it) saved the summit from failure and represents progress we can build on in the future,” she said noting, “For the first time, all major economies made national commitments to curb carbon emissions and report with transparency on their mitigation efforts.”

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