US Secretary of State calls on Natwar

Rice, who called on Natwar at his hotel, said that President Bush was very much looking forward to his meeting with the PM.

Setting the stage for the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President George W Bush, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice held talks with External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh on a wide range of bilateral issues.

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Rice, who called on Natwar at his hotel on Sunday, said that President Bush was very much looking forward to his meeting with the Prime Minister.

Describing the meeting as "a very good one", Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran said that basically what "she (Rice) did was to set the stage for the important meeting between President Bush and the Prime Minister".

They reviewed the progress that had been made on the joint statement, which, Saran said, is more or less finalised.

The agenda before the two leaders, he said, will be a broad one. "It would be a mistake to look at one single peg on which to hang the visit. One should look at this visit as one in which a number of issues that have emerged in Indo-US relations will become much more broad ranging, much more multifaceted than they have been for some time," he said.

On the political side, he said as plural democracies, both are particularly concerned about the vulnerability of democracies to terrorism.

"The Prime Minister on his part will certainly put across the Indian view that this is a worldwide scourge that requires a global response. There can be a segmentation in this struggle, whether it is the terrorist attack on Ayodhya or the subway bombing in London," the Foreign Secretary said.

"There will be nothing in the joint statement on Kashmir," he said in reply to a question.

"Of course there will be one important aspect of it, namely terrorism and the global fight against terrorism," Saran said adding, "If the President wishes to know how the Indo-Pak peace process is proceeding while discussing a whole range of regional and global issues, they will be talking about it."

On nuclear issues, he said "one should not make the mistake of trying to hang a visit of this kind on just one single thing. As far as nuclear energy cooperation is concerned, this is something which is a continuing process.

"What we really are going to achieve through this visit," he said, is affirmation at the highest level that the two countries are prepared to engage in civilian nuclear energy cooperation and to work out a mechanism through which this is to be accomplished.

He said there is already a framework agreement on defence issues as a result of the visit of the Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee to the US. "The joint statement by Bush and Singh will perhaps refer to that as the basis for carrying forward the cooperation of the two countries in the defence field."

However, the major focus of the visit will be the economic aspect. "This is a key element of the visit."

Through the mechanism of the CEOs forum, the two countries will be looking at ways in which US investment, trade and a number of very important economic elements could be promoted.

Saran said the very fact that there is going to be an announcement of the establishment of the CEOs forum, with some of the best known names in business on both sides, and also the fact that the composition of the US delegation to the CEOs forum is at the White House initiative is an indication of the importance that is attached at the highest level to really energising the economic relationship between the two countries across the board.

The Prime Minister, said Saran, will be able to point to a very impressive record in terms of economic reform in India.

The promotion of economic and trade relations, the record of the Government in terms of having delivered on a number of very important economic reform items stand out. It is evidence of "how far we have been able to travel despite whatever political constraints some people see."

The US, he pointed out, is one of the leading sources of high technology. The meeting would take India's technology relationship with the US forward. Science and technology is another area of focus.

The results of the visit, he said will be substantive in nature because of the nature of the issues that will be covered.

India and the US, he said, "are extending our cooperation across the board." The outcome will be "very significant."

On space, he said there is already a working group set up on space cooperation, and "we will be looking at how we are going to carry this forward."