Richard Boucher to visit India to enhance ties

The talks will cover entire gamut of bilateral relations with the US, External Affairs Ministry spokesman.

Reflecting intensification of high-level contacts to take Indo-US ties forward, a number of key American figures will be visiting India over the next few days beginning with a trip of Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher on Thursday.

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Boucher, who heads the State Department's newly-reconstituted Bureau for South and Central Asia, will be in New Delhi for three days during which he will hold meetings with his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar, Joint Secretary in the External Affairs Ministry.

The talks will cover entire gamut of bilateral relations with the US, External Affairs Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said, adding there will also be bilateral consultations on regional issues during the visit.

The visit comes less than a week after Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran's visit to Washington to discuss next steps on the areas of cooperation, including in civil nuclear field identified in the March 2 Joint Statement issued during the visit of US President George W Bush.

Saran had met senior Bush Administration officials, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns besides key Congressmen to push the nuclear deal.