After her meeting with External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, US Secretary of State said that Indo-US strategic partnership can be upped beyond 3.0 level that she had envisaged. Aziz Haniffa reports At the end of her meeting with External Affairs Minister S M Krishna in Washington as part of the third United States-India strategic dialogue, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she believed the US-India strategic partnership could be upped beyond the 3.0 level that she had envisaged three years ago.
Also read: Exclusive! Focus on fundamentals, says Hillary Clinton
She also declared in response to another question that recalled her describing the relationship between the two countries as an affair of the heart that it was only natural for such affairs of the heart to occasionally have its ups and downs.
Responding to a question that harked back to her first major speech on India to the US-India Business Council three years ago where she said it was the beginning of US-India 3.0 and if after the third US-India strategic dialogue she believed it was the beginning of US-India 4.0, Clinton said, "First of all, as to the strategic dialogue, we go from strength to strength. Because we believe strongly, and we have evidence to prove it, that our relationship is deepening and broadening."
She said, "The extraordinary work that has been done between the last strategic dialogue and today's on so many issues, which we will memorialise in our report and certainly make public, demonstrates the depth of cooperation between our two countries."
"And it's not only government to government; we're bringing in civil society, we're bringing in academia, we're bringing in the private sector. So I, for one, believe that we may be surpassing 3.0. We may be onto something that is quite unique and very important," she added.
When another reporter also went down memory lane and spoke of how when she and Krishna stood at the same podium in the State Department's Treaty Room in 2010, and she had described the relationship "as an affair of the heart," but since then there had been various ups and downs with slow progress on the US-India nuclear deal, India's concerns about US protectionism not to mention the Iran question, Clinton quipped to peals of laughter, "With respect to affairs of the heart, they usually have ups and downs. But that does not make them any less heartfelt
or any less of a commitment."
"And so I feel as strongly today as I did two years ago. And I think that it's always a temptation to zero in on what the differences are. That is understandable and it certainly is to be expected by the press. That's part of your job," she said.
But Clinton said, "Whether it's one country or another or, in particular, India, I always look at the totality of the relationship. And I would be never in a position to say we don't have differences."
"How could two great nations with our histories and our political systems -- these raucous, incredibly pluralistic democracies -- not have differences? That would be quite odd if that were the case. But there is no doubt that our values and our interests are converging, that we have a view of this relationship that is in keeping with the perspectives and histories that bring us together in the 21st century where we are finding so much more common ground that we are working on together."
Thus, Clinton asserted, "I'm very positive about our relationship, and we will continue to work through the differences as they arise."
In her opening remarks, the she said, "Today, there is less need for dramatic breakthroughs that marked earlier phases in our relationship, but more need for steady, focused cooperation aimed at working through our differences and advancing the interests and values we share."
She acknowledged, "This kind of daily, weekly, monthly collaboration may not always be glamorous, but it is strategically significant. And that is, after all, what this dialogue is all about."
Going down the laundry list of issues that constituted her discussions with
Krishna and the Indian delegation, Clinton said, "On the economic front, we reviewed the progress that we've made together, and acknowledged there is still more room for growth, investment, and business ties."