Clinton to host dinner for Menon

National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon arrives in Washington later this week to hold a series of meetings with top officials of the Barack Obama administration, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and his American counterpart Tom Donilon at the White House.

The first high-level meeting between the two countries after the November visit of US President Barack Obama to India, Menon's Washington trip is considered as a preparatory one for the next round of India-US Strategic Dialogue to be held in New Delhi in April.

Clinton would be leading a high-power US delegation, including several Cabinet ranking officials, to India for the Strategic Dialogue, which would be co-chaired by the Secretary of State and External Affairs Minister S M Krishna.

A senior State Department official said Clinton would be hosting dinner for Menon, reflecting the high importance she attaches to America's relationship

with India.

Menon-Donilon meeting at the White House would also follow up on the Obama's November visit and review the progress being done so far. The two leaders are also expected to discuss situation in the region, including Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Counterterrorism co-operation between the two countries is also expected to be one of the major topics of discussions when Menon meets top US officials during his three-day stay in the US later this week.

"We have an ongoing counter-terrorism cooperation with India. We share a concern about the threat of terrorism, both in the region and around the world," State Department spokesman P J Crowley told reporters at his daily news conference.

"I can't point to any particular action that we've done in recent days, but we continue to have full cooperation between India and the United States as well as other countries," Crowley said in response to a question.