Rocca keeps India, US dialogue going

Indian and US officials have exchanged views on nuclear issues and the region, with both sides promising to work on their differences and ta...

Indian and US officials have exchanged views on nuclear issues and the region, with both sides promising to work on their differences and take the relationship forward. The terrorist attack in Gujarat as well as the J-K elections practically drowned out news from the Indo-US dialogue front.

‘‘We are shocked at the horrific violence. We are following press accounts but don’t yet have information,’’ a US embassy spokesman said.

Over the last few days, key US officials Christina Rocca and John Wolf, Assistant Secretaries of State for South Asia and Non-proliferation respectively, have been engaging the MEA in a conversation that encompasses not only cooperation in areas such as civilian space and nuclear programmes, but also the situation from the Gulf to Sri Lanka.

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‘‘Both sides agreed, however, that the matrix of Indo-US ties will not be defined by differences,’’ a joint statement said later, indicating that while differences spawned by India’s nuclear tests remained, Washington was ready to take a practical view towards resolving them.

With PM Vajpayee and President Bush promising in New York to take forward dialogue on ending restraints on high-tech imports, both sides promised to expand bilateral trade on this score during the November visit of Undersecretary of State for Commerce Kenneth Juster. Significantly, both sides have also identified proposals which could be operationalised in the near term.

‘‘Both sides reaffirm their commitment to cooperation in export controls for dual-use items, materials and technologies…India is committed to non-proliferation and enforcing export controls on indigenous development, knowhow and technology,,’’ it said, reassuring the US it would not pass on technology to third countries.