US wants India to enlarge role as global power

"India is a global power," Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, Philip J. Crowley told reporters Friday as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton arrived in India for her first visit to the country as America's chief diplomat.
"As the Secretary reflected earlier this week and will certainly do so when she is in India, there is an opportunity to expand the areas of cooperation," he said when asked what global role Clinton sees for India.
"We want to see India continue to increase its role in terms of regional stability, regional security, economic development in the region," Crowley said noting that recently "India has played a very constructive role in helping the United States and others in terms of conflict resolution."
Similarly, the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yusuf Raza Gilani in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt and their statement in terms of cooperation on terrorism were "vitally important to stability in the region," he said.
While he could not detail the types of things Clinton will discuss with Indian leaders, Crowley said, "We happen to believe that the world's largest democracy and the world's oldest democracy share a great deal in common and can only expand, deepen, their relationship going forward."
"That will have significance in terms of our bilateral relationship and also significance in terms of being able to address regional challenges, global challenges," he said.  "And we're very pleased to see India begin to step up and take a more significant role and addressing those challenges."
In India, Clinton will have "the opportunity to broaden an already significant partnership that has emerged between India and the United States," he said noting, "We have a number of common interests, common values, and a common stake in the future of the 21st century."
In her discussions with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and External Affairs Minister, S.M. Krishna, she will address a number of issues, including security, non-proliferation, and climate change.
She will also try "to find ways in her outreach to increase the interaction with the Indian people and try to see how we can harness the efforts of the private sector as well - engineers, entrepreneurs - to try to pursue these challenges that we face."