In India, President Obama’s trip there in November will be remembered as a watershed when the United States and India embarked for the first time on concrete initiatives to develop our global strategic partnership in addition to the many significant bilateral accomplishments. The United States and India will now look on activities that move beyond our bilateral relations to have a far-reaching impact, both regionally and globally. In the area of non-proliferation, for example, we signed a Memorandum of Understanding to develop best practices and curricula and outreach at India’s Global Center for Nuclear Energy Partnership which will enhance global nuclear security efforts.
We will also pursue joint activities in Afghanistan on women’s development, agriculture and capacity building to help further stabilization efforts in that country. We also agreed to bring together our shared expertise on food security for the benefit of other countries, particularly for those in Africa.
Question: Good morning, Mr. Blake (Inaudible) Indo-U S relationship (inaudible). (Inaudible) after the Mumbai attacks, they repeatedly said that Pakistan has not done enough and can you say (inaudible). (Inaudible)?
Assistant secretary Blake: I wouldn’t say that our pressure is relaxing. I think it remains a very high priority for us and for the Pakistani government to address the terrorism that exists inside Pakistan. As President Obama remarked during his visit to India, no country in the world has suffered more from terrorism than Pakistan itself. But he also remarked that Pakistan needs to do more. The President I think also spoke about how it’s in India’s interests as well to work with the United States and other concerned nations to help stabilise Pakistan, because having a stable and prosperous Pakistan will be a great benefit to India as it becomes an increasingly influential player on the global stage.
Question: (India) Mr. Blake, (inaudible) priority that (inaudible) in the U S relationship, and which are (inaudible) areas right now with (inaudible)?
Assistant secretary Blake: I think our biggest priorities are to move forward in all of the areas that the President and the Prime Minister discussed during the President’s landmark visit there in November. We have important priorities in the economic sphere where we want to expand our trade and investment between our two countries. That’s already moving ahead very rapidly, but we think there’s much more that can be done in that area.
As I said earlier in my opening remarks, we want to expand our global partnership into new areas such as working together on trilateral cooperation in Afghanistan, in Africa, on nonproliferation, on climate change, and in the UN Security Council where India will pick up its two year rotation beginning January 1 st of next year. We also are moving ahead on the civil nuclear side where we were very pleased with the outcome of the President’s visit and we completed the government to government parts of the civil nuclear agenda and now our companies have begun negotiations to help provide reactors that can meet India’s civil nuclear needs. And we’re working on a huge range of other areas. So I think the hallmark of this partnership of ours is not only the bilateral efforts that we have underway, but increasingly the very strong regional consultations that we have and again, this new era of global cooperation because we are two of the leading democracies in the world, we are two of the leading market economies in the world, and we are two countries that want to take responsibility for addressing the global priorities and challenges that exist, and we want to do so increasingly together. Thank you.
Question: Another question on civil nuclear cooperation?
Assistant secretary Blake: Sure, go ahead.
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Question: (Inaudible) American concerns (inaudible). Have they been addressed?
Assistant Secretary Blake: I think they have been. I think as you saw in the Joint Statement, India announced that it has signed the Convention on Supplementary Compensation and they indicated they intended to ratify the CSC within the coming year and to ensure a level playing field for US companies. So this will continue to be a very high priority for the United States.
Excerpt from Indian journalists’ teleconference with Robert O Blake, Jr Assistant Secretary, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs in Washington, DC, December 15