NEW DELHI: India and the US will let their armed forces have more vigorous engagement in the coming year even as agreement on two critical defence pacts _ the logistics support agreement (LSA) and communication interoperability and security memorandum agreement (CISMOA) _ remain elusive.New Delhi and Washington on Friday wrapped up discussions on the future course of their growing strategic ties exhibiting the intent to take forward the relations to a new level. Such issues are discussed under the framework of the Defence Policy Group headed by the Defence Secretary. The group was formed to steer the 10-year defence programme launched in 2005.When the US representative, Deputy Secretary of Defence William J Lynn, met Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar, they thrashed out the programme of military engagement for next year.They agreed that the scale will grow only bigger. This year, India and the US carried out two big exercises separately involving air force and army . The US air force brought its big transport aircraft to IAF Air Base in Agra and the US army troops took part in an armoured exercise with the Indian army personnel in the north Indian town of Babina.It was the biggest deployment of US armoured vehicles Strykers outside Iraq and Afghanistan.The defence planners of the two sides have now indicated that the scale of such exercises is only going to get bigger.The visiting US official also kept the Indian side informed about the series of events happening in the region. The US military engagement in Afghanistan was a prime topic of discussion.Washington wants to take India into confidence as it is the biggest stabilising factor in South Asia. Another issue that came up for talks was the status of China and its growing significance in the region.The officials claimed that every issue that concerns the two sides was talked about and discussed. There is an obvious interest in issues like counter-terrorism.The officials hinted that little has moved on the two key defence pacts _ CISMOA and LSA. India is not keen to go ahead with LSA but the US wants to take the discussions ahead and conclude them. India, US for common vision for futureINDIA and the US propose to unveil a "common vision for the future" during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit here later this month.Indicating this, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake spoke of the desire of the two countries to work together on the major challenges confronting the world including food security, climate change, green technology and education. The vision document is expected to dwell on cooperation on all these aspects, he said.Speaking at an `India Day' event here, hosted by the US firm Honeywell to celebrate decades of business partnership between the two countries, Blake commented that it was "no accident" that the Obama Administration has handpicked the Indian Prime Minister to be the first pay a state visit to Washington.For the US, ties with India represent one of the most important partnerships of the 21st century, Blake said, recalling the institution of a high-level strategic dialogue between the two countries during Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's recent visit to India. Indian Ambassador Meera Shankar said the Manmohan Singh Government and the Obama Administration "are equally committed to take our relationship to the next level".
Sunday, November 8, 2009
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