India and the United States will kick off a first-of-its-kind track-II diplomacy initiative after the June 3 inaugural strategic dialogue between the two countries to discuss the future direction of the US-India relationship and US and Indian strategic interests in Asia.
The June 2-3 strategic dialogue between external affairs minister SM Krishnan and US secretary of state Hillary Clinton will cover an entire gamut of bilateral, regional and global issues. ?It will give direction to the programmes currently under implementation and take initiatives to further the Indian and US developmental, security and economic interests,? said Vishnu Prakash, spokesperson, external affairs ministry.
Krishna will be joined by human resource development minister Kapil Sibal, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, minister of state for science and technology Prithviraj Chavan, foreign secretary Nirupama Rao and other top officials.
A wide range of areas, including high technology trade, science & technology, civil nuclear cooperation, agriculture, human resource development, security and other strategic issues will be covered during discussions.
Industry chamber Ficci has organised month-long programmes in various states on a wide range of issues in an effort to take the Indo-US relationship to the next level in trade and economy.
A day after the strategic dialogue meeting, representatives of civil society, businesses and think tanks will give an ?expression to perspectives of people in synergy with US-India synergy? at an event organised by the Brookings Institution and Ficci.
The event will also focus on two dimensions: overlapping and intersecting American and Indian policies in Asia and the impact of growing economic ties. Panelists will discuss the future direction of the US-India relationship and US and Indian strategic interests in Asia. While Ficci president Rajan Bharti Mittal is slated to make the opening address, other speakers include foreign secretary Nirupama Rao, under-secretary Bill Burns and former US government functionaries like Strobe Talbott and Frank Wisner and strategists from Brookings like Martin Indyk. Also present will be former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal, former ambassador to US Lalit Mansingh, Gautam Adhikari (Ficci fellow at East-West Center) and Ajay Shankar.
Connectivity, health and opening up the education space with India planning legislation to allow foreign universities in India could be other areas.
US investment in India, with Ficci facilitating the Invest India programme and Indian investment in the US, which is now picking up after the recession, would be major issues to be discussed.
The dialogues are scheduled to start on June 2, with the 35th annual meeting of the US-India Business Council, to be addressed by Ficci secretary-general Amit Mitra, who will will speak on integration of small and medium size businesses in the global supply chain, water & food security, education and healthcare systems. Other eminent speakers would include ambassador Sue Schwab, former secretary of state Madeleine K Albright and Vas Narasimhan of Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics.
On June 7, the industry body will interact with local government bodies and business leaders from North Carolina to hold talks on doing business with North Carolina, also known as the Research Triangle Region. This will be followed by a meeting in New York organised by the Business Council for International Understanding (BCIU) for the delegation of Ficci who will address a group of members from BCIU on the three pressing concerns of India?s corporate leadership, from the perspective of Ficci.