Mr Prithviraj Chavan, Honourable Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Government of India is visiting Washington DC for attending the first Indo-US Strategic Dialogue Meeting being held on 3rd June 2010. As a prelude to the meeting, he visited the American Academy for Advancement of Science (AAAS) on 2nd June, 2010 and had a meeting with Dr Norman Neurieter, US Co-chair of Indo-US S&T Forum (IUSSTF) and other officials of AAAS. The discussion was focussed on taking the Indo-US S&T relationship to the next level and greater systemic participation of IUSSTF in it.

Thereafter the Minister delivered a public talk on “Changing Indian S&T Landscape – Opportunities for Collaborations”. The talk had an audience of about 100 attendees. There was a vibrant interaction with the audience, through which the Minister conveyed that the Indo-US S&T collaboration will not only be of mutual benefit but also for global good.

Minister Chavan had a meeting with Dr. John P. Holdern, Director, Office of Science & Technology Policy and Assistant to the US President for Science & Technology. They agreed that substantial Indo-US collaboration is going on in various scientific and technical domains at individual and entity level.

However transformation of the bilateral relationship to strategic level should include further strengthening of institutional mechanisms of cooperation in this area. The two leaders discussed about the need for enhancing the activities of the existing collaboration mechanisms like IUSSTF and the newly established Indo US Endowment Board. There was also recognition of the efforts made by India through its National Action Plan on Climate Change.

Both the leaders agreed that issues of mutual interests would be further discussed in the first meeting of the India US Joint S&T Commission scheduled to be held on 24-25 June 2010 in Washington DC.