Kerry reiterates commitment to India-US Strategic Dialogue

The new US Secretary of State, John Kerry has reaffirmed his commitment to continuing and strengthening the India-US Strategic Dialogue, his spokesperson said today. Kerry, who was sworn in as the Secretary of State last Friday replacing Hillary Clinton as the top American diplomat reiterated his commitment to India-US ties during his introductory phone call to External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, yesterday. "Both the Secretary (of State) and Minister Khurshid underscored the vital importance of our bilateral relationship, the US-Indian relationship, and cooperating closely not only on bilateral issues but on regional issues and on global issues that we work on together," the State Department spokesperson, Victoria Nuland, told reporters at her daily news conference. "They also both expressed their commitment to continuing and strengthening the US-India Strategic Dialogue mechanism. This is our regular mechanism of bringing officials across our two governments together every year," she said. "The secretary also took the opportunity to thank Minister Khurshid for India's continued assistance to Afghanistan and affirmed our desire to continue collaborating with India on regional issues," Nuland said. Kerry over the last 24 hours, also spoke over telephone with the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, the NATO Secretary General and the Russian Foreign Minister. Today, Kerry started his day with a town hall meeting with the US Embassy in Kabul via video conference.