Hillary Clinton to arrive in India on July 17

Clinton, who starts her first visit to India as America's chief  diplomat in Mumbai July 17, will meet with Prime Minister Manmohan  Singh and External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna, other government  officials, the leader of the opposition, entrepreneurs, scientists,  and youth, State Department Spokesman Ian Kelly said Tuesday.

With Krishna, she "will discuss the structure and elements of an  enhanced US-India strategic partnership that will enable us to advance  solutions to the defining challenges of our time and to enhance global  prosperity and stability in the 21st century," he told reporters.

In Mumbai, she will meet with a broad cross section of Indian society  and will remember the victims of the Nov 26 Mumbai terrorist  attacks before travelling to New Delhi July 19. Clinton leaves for  Thailand July 21.

Kelly, who will be part of the US team, said Clinton had no plans of  stopping by or visiting Afghanistan and Pakistan during her trip. "I'm  sure that she will visit Afghanistan and Pakistan, but not on this  visit.  It's just to India and Thailand," he said.

Clinton had given the first broad exposition of Washington's agenda  for India at the US-India Business Council's (USIBC) Synergies Summit  here last month with a pledge to build what she called the "US-India  3.0" relationship representing the next stage in their evolving ties.

Calling India one of the few nations the new Obama administration saw  as a global partner, she had vowed to usher in a new era of relations  with India with a "dramatic expansion in our common agenda and a  greater role for India, in solving global challenges."

"We see India as one of a few key partners worldwide who will help us shape the 21st century," she declared.

"It is early in our new administration, and we are clearly committed  to furthering and deepening our relationship with India in every way  possible," she said as if addressing critics who have suggested that  unlike the previous Bush administration, President Barack Obama was  ignoring New Delhi.

Noting that three successive United States administrations from  different parties - Bill Clinton, George Bush and Barack Obama - have  identified the US-India relationship as a foreign policy priority, she  said: "To the United States, this is a project that transcends  partnerships and personalities. And I believe the same is true in  India."

Since then, Clinton has time and again dilated on the theme of a  "strategic partnership" with India. At a Town Hall meeting Monday at  the US Agency for International Development, she said her trip to  India is intended to start a strategic dialogue on a wide range of  issues including climate change and clean energy.