US Secretary of State Colin Powell opened trade and security talks with Indian officials yesterday at the start of a three-nation South Asia tour that will take him to Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Powell, who arrived here late Monday extolling progress in US-India ties and the warming in relations between India and nuclear rival Pakistan, was to begin his meetings with Indian opposition leader Sonia Gandhi.
He will later see Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha and other senior officials.
En route to New Delhi, Powell said his talks would focus on US-India relations including a two-month-old joint agreement to boost cooperation on civilian nuclear activities, space programs and high-technology trade.
"We think it is an important milestone in our relations," he told reporters on his plane, adding that military-to-military ties had also grown and that bilateral trade was on the uptick.
For the nuclear cooperation to take root, the US is requiring India to put in place stricter controls on technology exports and Powell said New Delhi had not yet completed the process.
"There's more that they have to do," he said.
Washington is also looking for India to continue opening up its economy to foreign, particularly US, investment, Powell said.
"I'll want to talk to my interlocutors about what more can be done with respect to trade liberalization on the part of India, so that we can see more American exports going to India," he said.
India is a prime beneficiary of the practice of outsourcing by US firms seeking to save money at home by sending jobs overseas, which may become a political millstone for US President George W. Bush in November's election.
In his comments, Powell did not address outsourcing but Indian officials have made clear they will raise the matter during his visit.
He said the political atmosphere in South Asia had improved dramatically since India and Pakistan launched a peace initiative last April after tensions soared to the point where nuclear war was feared.
"We are arriving in the midst of India-Pakistan cricket matches which are going on," he said, referring to the Indian team's current tour of Pakistan, its first full series since 1989. "It is quite a difference from 18 months ago."
Encouraged by Washington, India and Pakistan resumed talks last month after nearly coming to war in the wake of an Islamic militant raid on India's parliament in late 2001 which New Delhi blamed on Islamabad.
Despite the progress, the two countries became embroiled in a diplomatic tiff over the peace talks, when India objected to weekend comments by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in which he said the 56-year-old dispute over Kashmir was at the core of the discussions.
India insists that Kashmir, the divided Himalayan state claimed by both, is just one issue to be dealt with.
The Indian foreign ministry described Musharraf's comments as unconducive to peace, a reaction that Pakistan then assailed as "regrettable."
Powell said he expected to hold "full discussions" with Musharraf in Islamabad on nuclear leaks by scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan.
Khan is revered as a national hero for bringing atomic technology to Pakistan but last month confessed he had shared nuclear secrets with Iran, Libya and North Korea. He was then pardoned by Musharraf.
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