The first substantive bilateral engagement between US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the White House on Tuesday is expected to cover a broad range of issues and set the framework for the US-India relationship.

The Prime Minister left for the landmark visit to the United States on Saturday. On Sunday, his entourage will reach Washington from Geneva. Obama will welcome Dr Singh to the White House on Tuesday morning as the first State Guest of his presidency.

Singh's past meetings with Obama have always been in the context of global situations -- significantly the economic crisis -- a problem on which the US President has sought counsel from Singh, an economist and architect of India's economic reforms. This visit, which commences when Singh's plane touches down at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington on Sunday afternoon, will be packed with meetings with US lawmakers, cabinet secretaries, business world titans, a lunch hosted by Vice-President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and capped off by a grand state dinner at the White House on Tuesday.

Discussions will focus on counter-terrorism, on which initiatives on cooperation are likely to be struck; green technologies, with an emphasis on solar power; education, with an eye on expanding the Nehru-Fulbright Fellowship; health, with the goal of setting up of regional disease detection facilities; and agriculture, where New Delhi is looking to a US role in a second Green Revolution.

Singh will meet House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and the secretaries of defense, energy, treasury and commerce will call on the Prime Minister at his hotel in downtown Washington. Singh will also address the US-India Business Council and meet with members of the newly constituted CEOs forum. This forum is co-chaired by Ratan Tata and Honeywell CEO Dave Cote. Due to this steady stream of visitors and the accompanying security headaches, Singh opted to stay at the Willard Hotel situated halfway between the US Capitol building and the White House instead of at Blair House, the traditional White House guest house. The Willard Hotel contributed the word lobbyist to the American lexicon. Lobbyists got their name by lingering in the lobby of the hotel during the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant in the hopes of buttonholing residing government officials and members of Congress to seek redress of some grievance.

While there will be predictable progress on a host of second-tier issues, the US-India dialogue faces its biggest challenge on non-proliferation and climate change.

Ashley Tellis, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, says in a policy brief that India is unlikely to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), leaving a strong possibility that even if the United States ratifies the agreement, it will never come into force. It is worth noting that the CTBT does not - as yet - have adequate support for ratification within the US Congress.

"India’s integration into the global nonproliferation regime remains incomplete," Tellis writes, adding, the United States should work to integrate India into global nonproliferation institutions, including the Proliferation Security Initiative, the Nuclear Suppliers Group, Australia Group, and the Zangger Committee. While India agrees with the Obama administration's goal of a nuclear-free world, but, sources say, till such time as other countries possess nuclear weapons, India, too, needs a "modest deterrent."

On climate change, Tellis says if Obama focuses on persuading Singh to commit to a binding CO2 emissions cap or a multilateral treaty, there will be little hope for cooperation on climate change. Instead, the United States and India should focus on practical initiatives to reduce emissions and improve efficiency in the realms of agriculture, transportation, and infrastructure, he says, adding, the United States should give India access to priority technologies that could reduce its emissions growth. "India is not yet convinced that it can play an important role in combating climate change, and does not want to jeopardize its economic growth. But economic progress and sustainable development are compatible, as little-noticed programs by the Singh government have proven," Tellis added.

Tellis says the Obama administration can do much to reassure India of its importance in his worldview by announcing his support for a permanent seat for India on the United Nations Security Council. "Although it would produce no immediate results, the bold declaration would signal New Delhi’s growing importance to Washington and the Obama administration’s recognition of the changing global centre of gravity," he said.

The Obama administration's comments on this matter have been somewhat lukewarm. State Department spokesman Robert Wood was asked about such a possibility on Friday. "The whole question of Security Council expansion is one that the UN’s been dealing with for quite some time, and we’ll just have to see how that goes," Wood said.