NEW DELHI, June 20: Minister of State Saleem Shervani will sign a treaty on extradition with Deputy Secretary of State of the United States, Strobe Talbott, during his visit to Washington next week.A high-level official team, led by foreign secretary-designate K Raghunath, will simultaneously be in Washington for talks with senior officials in the Clinton administration.This is the first time a high-level dialogue is taking place with the US in the last three years, and both sides are eagerly looking forward to discussing a wide number of issue on the agenda.Apart from the extradition treaty, these include discussions on a permanent Security Council seat that India is seeking, defence cooperation, the fissile material cut-off convention, technology transfer and others.Shervani and ministry officials will be meeting US Undersecretary of State, (Political Affairs) Thomas Pickering, Undersecretary (Economic Afairs) Stuart Eizenstat, Undersecretary (Defence for Policy) Walter Slocombe and national Security Adviser Sandy Berger.India is keen to revive a comprehensive dialogue with Washington, especially in the light of reports that the US may be shifting perceptions on the status of India as a nuclear power. Some newspaper articles have recently suggested that Washington may be publicly ready to accept India as a covert nuclear power.Reacting to these reports, an official in the ministry of external affairs today said that while ``some statements seem to have been made, these are straws in the wind.''The official also ruled out extensive discussion on the so-called ``deployment'' by India of the Prithvi missile, saying that neither Prithvi nor the recent scandal over Bharat Electronics Ltd are the focus of the visit.The official said the extradition treaty, which has been ready for signing for at least a year, will send ``the appropriate message to extremist elements'' in India. He pointed out that India and the US have had extensive collaboration on terrorist-related law-enforcement, for example on the Purulia arms affair, when on the basis of a single fingerprint, its key mastermind Kim Davy was caught.
