Washington: India is "an anchor of stability" in the region and will have to play significant role at the international level, a top US official said on Thursday.
"We recognise that India is an anchor of stability in a critical part of the world," the State Department spokesman, PJ Crowley, told reporters at his daily news conference.
India, he said, will have to play a significant role in the global action to combat climate change.
India can play a leading role in terms of the institutions that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke earlier in the day about the regional architecture that the US
hopes to build in different parts of the world to be able to address regional and global issues more effectively, the State Department official said.
Noting that the US has an ongoing strategic dialogue with India, he said the Washington believes earnestly that the world's oldest democracy and the world's largest democracy
have a great deal in common.
"And in fact India can be -- as the Secretary (of State) said in her remarks today, developing new partners who are able to assume greater responsibility for critical issues
in the future," Crowley said.
In a major foreign policy speech at the Council on Foreign Relations, a Washington-based think-tank, Clinton said the world's largest democracy has a very large convergence of fundamental values and a broad range of both national and regional interests.
"We are laying the foundation for an indispensable partnership, Clinton underlined.
Referring to the scheduled visit of the US President to India in the first half of November, Clinton said "President Obama will use his visit to take our relationship
to the next level".
At the same time, Crowley did acknowledge that would be differences between the two countries on certain issues.
"You know, certainly, you know, from a bilateral standpoint, we will have issues that crop up from time to time, and we are in an effective dialogue to resolve those
issues," he said.
The US believes that the full implementation of the nuclear deal is in both the interest of the United States and India, Crowley said.
"We are having discussions with India about what just passed the Parliament," he said in reference to the Nuclear Liability Bill passed by the Indian parliament recently.
"We recognise that there are other countries and businesses within India that have raised similar concerns, and we'll work with the government of India to address those
concerns," Crowley said.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, September 09, 2010, 09:52