India can count on help in tackling terror: Roemer

India could look forward to American help in anti-terror measures such as the setting up a national counter-terrorism cell and rapid deployment of forces at the time of terror strikes besides sharing ‘actionable intelligence,’ U.S. Ambassador to India Timothy J. Roemer said here on Wednesday

He was responding to a question at a press conference on the outcome of the recent visit of Home Minister P. Chidambaram to the U.S. and the cooperation between the two countries in fighting terror.

He said that during Mr. Chidambaram’s ‘productive visit’ there was an exchange of ideas on forensic laboratories, technology and training, protecting soft targets, mega policing, maritime security that attained importance after the Mumbai terror attack. The U.S. shared the lessons learnt from the 9/11 attack and what had gone wrong before it. The cooperation was mutual as the U.S. was keen on learning from Indian experience.

Mr. Roemer said he was hopeful of tangible results emerging out of talks between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during the latter’s visit to the U.S. in November end. Mr. Obama gave India lot of importance as reflected in his invitation to Dr. Singh to be the first State guest. The U.S. was working on the potential visit of Mr. Obama to India and recalled the visits of the former U.S. Presidents, Bill Clinton and George Bush.

Asked about the public announcement by India on the two sites for nuclear power plants, he said, it exemplified the historic India-U.S. civil nuclear cooperation agreement. The other aspect of enacting legislation in Parliament would come through soon, he hoped. The nuclear deal was built on trust and confidence and would help in providing electricity to villages and take care of the needs of the community. It was important for the U.S. as it generated jobs.

Mr. Roemer, who is on a two-day visit, met industrialists and addressed the media at the CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre, which he said was world class and stood as symbol for the India- U.S. cooperation on evolving green technologies and energy conservation.

He was in Hyderabad on a specific brief from Mr. Obama to reach out to a cross section of people in India through public diplomacy and widen the scope of relations for achieving global peace and prosperity.