US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton headed to India on Monday in the shadow of triple bomb blasts in Mumbai, with regional security as well as growing trade links high on the agenda.
Clinton will hold “strategic dialogue” talks with leaders in New Delhi before heading south to Chennai, one of many Indian cities undergoing rapid expansion as the country’s economy opens up to foreign investment.
Her arrival in India late Monday comes after the blasts in Mumbai last week that killed 19 people and injured more than 130 in the latest reminder of the region’s struggle to crack down on terror attacks.
No one has claimed responsibility for the blasts, but relations between India and Pakistan have been undermined in the past by militant strikes in India.
Pakistan’s instability and the threat of the Taliban’s re-emergence in Afghanistan are likely to feature in Clinton’s discussions with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday.
India is wary of the planned US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, fearing that terrorist elements within Pakistan could take advantage of a power vacuum in the war-torn country.
Robert Hathaway, director of the Asia programme at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, said the latest attacks “will inevitably colour Secretary Clinton’s visit.”
Clinton will also put much of the focus on her three-day trip on economic ties, which have been fast improving but which many see as yet to fulfil their potential.
“The depth of the US-India Strategic Dialogue demonstrates the United States’ strong support for India as an important actor on the world stage,” a statement from Clinton’s office said before the visit.
It said that Chennai had been chosen for a stop as the city has become a centre of the international trade and investment “that is driving the US-India relationship.”
Ahead of Clinton’s trip, which comes after President Barack Obama’s visit last year, Indian government spokesman Vishnu Prakash said that it was “no exaggeration to say that the relationship has got transformed in recent years.”
He said that in 2010 bilateral trade increased by 30 percent to nearly $50 billion and that, including goods and services, the US was India’s largest business partner.
