Mansingh expects early lifting of US sanctions

New York, May 7 : INDIAN ambassador to the US, Lalit Mansingh, has expressed confidence that American sanctions against India would be lifted soon and has said that Indo-US relations are not dependent on any third country.

Stating that his priority would be to work for lifting sanctions imposed after the 1998 nuclear tests, Mr Mansingh noted that they had done more harm to US corporations than to India.

“Americans need to be made aware of the fact that sanctions have not affected India as its growth rate has continued to be around seven per cent but they did affect US companies’ ability to do business,” he told reporters. To a question on whether the US wants to improve relations with India to counteract China’s growing influence in the regoin he said, “India wants relations to stand on their own and not be dependent on any third country, whether Pakistan or China.”

“We want bilateral relations,” he asserted.The Indian ambassador said that defence minister Jaswant Singh’s unscheduled meeting with president George W Bush during his recent visit to Washington showed the US administration’s desire to further strengthen relations with India. Mr Mansingh said that the proposed visit of joint chief of staff General Henry Shelton to India has significance in the context of improving relations between the two countries.

Asked if it would lead to the sale of American arms to India, he said, “I would say that it would be jumping the gun.” Mr Mansingh said that he would also work for further strengthening the Indian caucus in the US Congress which now has around 120 members. (PTI)