Embassy Archives What's New/Press Releases

Visit of External Affairs Minister to Washington DC for India-U.S. Strategic Dialogue

New Delhi
June 08, 2012

Shri S.M. Krishna, Minister of External Affairs, will co-chair with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton the third India-U.S. Strategic Dialogue on 13 June 2012 in Washington DC. Shri Krishna and Secretary Clinton had announced the Strategic Dialogue in July 2009 in Delhi. Secretary Clinton hosted the first Strategic Dialogue in June 2010 in Washington DC. The second Strategic Dialogue was held in July 2011 in Delhi.

The Strategic Dialogue is the principal platform to bring the different strands of the broad-based and diverse agenda of bilateral engagement and pursue the vision of India-U.S. Global Strategic Partnership, outlined by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and President Barack Obama.

External Affairs Minister will be accompanied by Minister for Science and Technology Vilasrao Deshmukh, Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad, Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Prime Minister’s Public Information Infrastructure and Innovation Advisor Sam Pitroda, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Women and Child Development Krishna Tirath, Minister of State for Planning, S&T and Earth Sciences Ashwini Kumar, Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai, Home Secretary R.K.Singh, Director of Intelligence Bureau Nehchal Sandhu, Secretary for Higher Education Ashok Thakur and other senior officials. Secretary Clinton will be joined by her ministerial colleagues and senior officials.

External Affairs Minister will also deliver the key note address at the Annual Summit of the U.S.-India Business Council on 12 June 2012 in Washington DC.

There will be several dialogues on the margins of and preceding the Strategic Dialogue. Shri Kapil Sibal, Minister for Human Resource Development, IT and Telecommunication, will chair the Higher Education Dialogue with Secretary Clinton on June 12. Minister for Science and Technology will co-chair the Joint Science and Technology Commission Meeting with Dr. John Holdren, President Obama’s Advisor on Science and Technology. Minister for Health and Family Welfare will co-convene with Secretary Clinton and UNICEF, a Call to Maternal and Child Care Action on June 14-15 in Washington, D.C.

A number of sub-dialogues have been scheduled on the margins of this Strategic Dialogue, including the Global Issues Forum, Homeland Security Consultations, Strategic Intelligence Dialogue, the Counterterrorism Joint Working Group, Cyber Consultations, Information and Communications Technology Working Group, the Women’s Empowerment Dialogue, Dialogue on Health Cooperation and other events. In addition, U.S. Defence Secretary Leon Panetta visited India on 5-6 June 2012.

EAM will have a restricted meeting with Secretary Clinton on June 13 before they chair the Plenary Session, which will have discussions on five themes:

• Strategic, Defence, Homeland Security, Counter-terrorism and Intelligence
• Economic, Energy, Climate
• S&T, Innovation and Health
• Higher Education and Empowerment
• Regional Strategies and linkages