Thaindian News

Washington, June 12 (IANS) India and US Tuesday began their annual higher education dialogue here with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton noting that India-US ties “have never been stronger” saying their shared values were leading to a convergence of their interests.

“The strategic fundamentals of our relationship - our shared values, our economic systems, our diplomatic imperatives - are drawing our interests into closer convergence in the 21st century,” she said opening the dialogue she is co-chairing with Indian Minister for Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal.

“And that means we are working together like never before to build an open, free, transparent, and fair global economic system, to promote peace and prosperity in South Asia and the Asia-Pacific, to coordinate international responses to violent extremism, and so much else.”

Both the United States and India believe that extending the benefits of higher education to as many people as possible is not only the right thing to do, but it is the smart thing as well, to help better equip our people to compete in today’s global economy, Clinton said.

Noting that Clinton had termed their relationship as a partnership of democracies destined to lead the 21st century, Sibal said: “Nothing will be more invigorating for this partnership than bringing together our knowledge institutions.”

Their common journey to eliminate barriers of prejudice by creating opportunities for “our children” to share knowledge “will help them realise that they have common interests and aspirations and that collaborative learning is both enriching and empowering, he said.

The education dialogue is one of several dialogues being held on the margins of the third edition of the India-US strategic dialogue here Wednesday.

External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna arrived here Monday night to co-chair the strategic dialogue. The strategic dialogue was announced by the two in Delhi in July 2009.

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