India and the United States on Monday firmed up the substantive agenda, including bilateral and regional issues, for the first Strategic Dialogue to be held in Washington on June 3.
The agenda was fine-tuned at a meeting between Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns here.
External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will hold the Strategic Dialogue, marking a new chapter in the rapidly expanding and deepening ties.
Ms. Rao and Mr. Burns reviewed the bilateral agenda and, specifically, the progress made in the India-U.S. Strategic Dialogue announced on July 20, last year during Ms. Clinton’s visit here, External Affairs Ministry said in a statement tonight.
“The substantive issues relating to the forthcoming visit of External Affairs Minister to USA from June 2-3, 2010 for the inaugural meeting of the India-U.S. Strategic Dialogue in Washington were at the core of their discussions,” it said.
“Intensified India-U.S. co-operation in the five focus areas of strategic cooperation, energy and climate change, education and development, economic trade and agriculture constituted their main agenda,” the statement said.
It added that Ms. Rao and Mr. Burns also exchanged views on regional and global issues of shared interest and common concern.
Mr. Burns also called on Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, MoS in the PMO Prithviraj Chavan and National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon.
