India-US Strategic Dialogue an opportunity to reflect on progress made in relations: US official

Ahead of the India-US Strategic and Commercial Dialogue (S&CD) next week in New Delhi, a senior American official said this would be an opportunity for the two countries to reflect upon the progress made under the outgoing Obama administration and chart the path forward.

OPPORTUNITY TO REFLECT

"The S&CD presents an opportunity to really reflect upon where we have come and also chart a path forward on where we want to go and how we want to use this relationship," a senior State Department official told a group of journalists.

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker will be in New Delhi for the dialogue.

Leading a team of top officials from 12 different government agencies, Kerry and Pritzker would co-chair the last Strategic and Commercial Dialogue under the Obama Administration along with their Indian counterparts the External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and the Union Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Kerry would arrive in New Delhi on August 29 from Dhaka. The Strategic and Commercial Dialogue is scheduled to take place on August 30.

SEVENTH INDIA-US STRATEGIC DIALOGUE

This would be the seventh India US Strategic Dialogue which was announced in 2009 by the then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is now the Democratic presidential nominee.

In 2015, the US and India added the commercial track and as such this would be the second strategic and commercial dialogue.

On his fourth visit to India as Secretary of State, Kerry is also scheduled to have bilateral meeting with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. He would meet the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 31, the official said.

TRAJECTORY OF INDIA-US TIES

The Secretary would also be addressing an audience of students, academics, business leaders and journalists at the Indian Institute of Technology where he will talk about "the broad arch and trajectory" of the US-India ties and the importance of that relationship in both addressing the challenges and opportunities of the not only bilaterally, but also regionally and globally.

"A joint vision statement on the Asia Pacific that was launched during President Obama's historic Republic Day visit that the S&CD presents an opportunity to really reflect upon where we have come and also chart a path forward on where we want to go and how we want to use this relationship to as Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi has said to not only advance the interest of the American people and the Indian people but really to advance and benefit global issues," the official said.

"That is how the Secretary is really looking at those opportunities to have those kind of conversations in his dialogues and bilateral meetings,"the senior State Department official said.

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