Hillary Clinton to 'upgrade' Indo-US ties to 3.0 version

Invoking IT language, secretary of State Hillary Clinton says time has come to "upgrade" Indo-US ties and she would be discussing the contours of '3.0' version of it when she visits New Delhi next month.

Addressing the influential US-India Business Council's 34th anniversary here yesterday and a "significant crowd" that included bigwigs from the IT industry, Clinton said "our official ties are past due for an upgrade."

"We find ourselves at the beginning of a third era. I'll call it US-India 3.0. The new governments in Washington and New Delhi will build this future together" and that she would be discussing the details of that partnership with India next month as she visits New Delhi in the highest level of contact since the Congress-led UPA returned to power.

"I hope that an expanded partnership between the US and India will be one of the signature accomplishments of both new governments in both countries, and I do plan to make that a personal priority," she said.

"The formation of India's new government is an opportunity to strengthen our ties and launch new initiatives. Now that the government is in place, we are moving quickly to strengthen our ties," she said, assuring Indian-Americans that Obama administration was "fully committed" to implementing the "landmark" Indo-US civilian nuclear deal.

Acknowledging that US and India had differences in the past, Clinton said as friendly democracies that were the oldest and largest in the world, "we should work through any issues in our relationship and differences in our perspective by focusing on shared objectives and concrete results. I want to put us into the solutions business."

To achieve the goal of stronger Indo-US ties, she said both sides will have to "confront and transcend the mistrust" that has hampered cooperation in past and address lingering uncertainties in the relationship.

"It is early in our new Administration, and we are clearly committed to furthering and deepening our relationship with India in every way possible," the 62-year-old US top diplomat said in her first major policy speech on India.

Lavishing praise on India's booming economy, she said, "it is great to be standing in front of this significant crowd and to say that word about India has obviously spread.

"People know what kind of business and investment opportunities are there. India's growing role in the global economy is accepted the way we accept the law of gravity. And the partnerships that are blooming at all levels of our societies are indeed exciting," she said.

Clinton said while pursuing an "enhanced bilateral partnership" the two countries should recognise that their official ties "are past due for an upgrade" as compared to other metrics of cooperation.

"We need bilateral cooperation between our governments to catch up with our people-to-people and economic ties".