US should not push India on climate change: American expert

An eminent American expert on South Asia cautioned the Obama administration not to push India on climate change and instead concentrate on other issues so as to deepen the strategic partnership between the two countries.

An eminent American expert on South Asia on Tuesday cautioned the Obama administration not to push India on climate change and instead concentrate on other issues so as to deepen the strategic partnership between the two countries.

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"It would probably be a mistake by the Obama Administration to focus solely on the climate change issue
which is really going to be a hard sell in India," Lisa Curtis, Senior Research fellow at Asian Studies Center, the
Heritage Foundation, said.

"I do not think that the US should allow this issue to overshadow everything else that the two countries accomplished together," Curtis said, adding there are other aspects of the bilateral relationship which should be the focus of the two respective governments.

On the visit of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to India, she said the visit was the first step in trying to
boost the relationship to third phase. It is a promising sign of the commitment of the Obama Administration towards India.

The joint statement released at the end of Clinton's visit, she said, reflects that the two countries are
interested in cooperating on a range of issues, including military, despite the differences on the climate change.