November 17, 1999
London, England

The Indo-US bilateral talks were held in London on November 16th and 17th, 1999. The delegations were led by Mr. Jaswant Singh, Minister of External Affairs and Mr. Strobe Talbott, Deputy Secretary of State. The two delegations had last met in New Delhi in January 1999. The two sides reviewed regional and global developments since their last meeting.

They discussed issues related to disarmament and non-proliferation and focused, in particular, on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), the Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT), Control over Exports of sensitive products and technologies and issues related to Defence Posture. These four issues have been the subject of on-going discussion between the two delegations

Both sides agree on the importance of these issues and the need to make tangible progress. The two sides also agreed that the purpose of the talks is to lay the foundation of a broad-based forward looking relationship between the United States and India.

They expressed the hope that a visit of the President of the United States to India in the coming year would provide the occasion to significantly improve mutual understanding and cooperation.

To that end, the two sides agreed to intensify their contacts at all levels in the months ahead.

The Indo-US Dialogue led by Mr. Jaswant Singh and Mr. Strobe Talbott will resume in January 2000.