India, US sign pact on aviation safety

External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will jointly lead the second round of India-US strategic dialogue.

India and the US are also likely to ink a cyber-security cooperation deal along with some other bilateral documents after a meeting between Clinton and Krishna on Tuesday.

While India and the US focused on civil aviation and cyber security to boost ties, Washington also sought to reassure New Delhi on the future of the bilateral civil nuclear cooperation. Daniel B Poneman, the Deputy Secretary of Energy in President Barack Obama’s Administration, said the NSG’s new set of guidelines restricting transfer of sensitive enrichment and reprocessing technology would not dilute India-US civil nuclear cooperation agreement, which came into effect in October 2008.

“There is nothing new in this. (There is) no betrayal of sorts that we have to be very clear about...” said Poneman, replying to a query on the recent decision of the NSG and India’s top nuclear scientist Anil Kakodkar terming the move as a “betrayal”.

Clinton is likely to have a meeting with National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon before her talks with Krishna on Tuesday. She is expected to call on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and meet Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. She is scheduled to meet UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj. She will also visit Chennai during her four-day visit to India.