Washington: President Barack Obama will
attend a reception to be hosted by Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton in honour of her Indian counterpart S M Krishna on
Thursday, reflecting the importance he personally attaches to
the Indo-US ties.
This is going to be one of the rarest occasions when the
President of the US will drive down from the White House to
the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department to
attend a reception hosted by the Secretary of State for a
visiting Foreign Minister.
Krishna will be visiting here for the first Indo-US
Strategic Dialogue on June 3.
"On Thursday, the President will attend and deliver
remarks at the Secretary of State`s reception in honour of the
Indian delegation to the United States-India Strategic
Dialogue, which will meet at the State Department earlier that
day," the White House said as it released the schedule of the
US President for the next week.
"The President`s strong support of the Strategic Dialogue
and of this inaugural meeting reflects his commitment to
furthering a strategic partnership with India as we seek to
address global challenges," the White House said.
Earlier, Assistant Secretary of State for South and
Central Asia, Robert Blake, told reporters at a news
conference that Obama has called India an indispensable
partner and one of the defining partners for the United States
in the 21st century.
"Obama Administration attaches great importance to our
relations with India, and as President Obama himself has said,
this will be one of our signature partnerships in the 21st
century," Blake said.
"That was shown by the President`s decision to invite
Prime Minister (Manmohan) Singh (as the first State Guest of
his presidency in November last year). It`s shown by the huge
number of dialogues that we have. It`s shown even more by the
huge private sector component to our relations and all of the
people-to-people contacts that we have.
"If anything, in our case, it`s the governments who are
catching up to the people in terms of all of the many, many
ties that exist at so many levels of our two countries," Blake
said.
PTI
