New Delhi, September 14
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will have substantive talks with US President George Bush and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf during separate bilateral meetings in New York next week, sources said today.
This will be Dr Manmohan Singh’s first face-to-face interaction with Mr Bush and Gen Musharraf after taking over as Prime Minister.
India is likely to unveil some more Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) vis-a-vis Pakistan later this week.
The Manmohan-Musharraf meeting in New York has already been slotted for half an hour. The meeting assumes significance as it follows the Foreign Minister-level dialogue between the two countries and the secret talks between the National Security Advisers of India and Pakistan, Mr J.N. Dixit and Mr Tariq Aziz.
The Indian side is looking at the prospective Manmohan-Musharraf meeting from the prism of Dr Manmohan Singh’s observation at his recent Press conference where he said this meeting would be in the nature of getting to know each other.
Though major issues would be discussed by Dr Manmohan Singh and Gen Musharraf, no major announcements would be forthcoming after their talks. This is
particularly so since a dialogue process is already on between the two countries, The two leaders will at best assess and endorse the outcome of the recent Foreign Ministers’ meeting.
Dr Manmohan Singh’s meeting with Mr Bush is slated for September 21.
Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran left for Washington tonight to finalise the agenda of the Prime Minister’s meeting with Mr Bush. During his stay, Mr Saran will hold consultations with the Foreign Office in Washington on September 16 and 17.
Sources said India and the US are expected to give final shape to the Next Steps in Strategic Partnership (NSSP) after the Manmohan-Bush talks.
Mr Alan Larson, an Under Secretary in the US Department of State whose rank is equivalent to that of Foreign Secretary in India, is reaching here tonight via Pakistan for fine-tuning the areas of Indo-US economic cooperation. Mr Larson, who is incharge of economic, trade and agricultural issues, will meet Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Industry and Commerce Minister Kamal Nath and Finance Secretary D.C. Gupta during the next couple of days.
Giving final shape to the NSSP would be a win-win situation for both India and the US. For India, it will remove the NPT barriers and pave the way for its access to the American high technology having applications in military and space. At present, the US gives high technology or dual use technology to India on a case-to-case basis.
