Clinton arrives in India after Mumbai blasts

NEW DELHI: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in India on Monday in the shadow of triple bomb blasts in Mumbai, looking to encourage New Delhi's engagement with arch-rival Pakistan.

Indian concerns over the US troop drawdown in Afghanistan and developing US trade links with Asia's second-fastest growing economy will also top the agenda when Clinton meets Indian leaders on Tuesday for a "strategic dialogue."

Her arrival followed 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.

"We believe there's been some good progress between India and Pakistan in the last few months", a senior US administration official said, adding that Washington was keen to help sustain that momentum.

"It's also about reinforcing the steps they have already taken," the official told reporters during the flight to India.

Earlier this month Washington suspended almost a third of the $2.7 billion in security assistance it provides each year to Islamabad.

Clinton will have "extensive conversations" on security cooperation in New Delhi, the US official said, and push Washington's vision for a political and economic solution to the conflict in Afghanistan and "a future in the region that is free of al Qaeda."

On Wednesday, Clinton will visit the southern city of Chennai which has become a focus for growing US trade and investment.

"The main goal is to push the pace of the strategic dialogue and to focus the agenda on a set of concrete items that are important to take this relationship to the next level," the official said.

Clinton's two-day trip follows President Barack Obama's visit in November -- a courtship of India that reflects the rapid growth in the country's economy and a shift in power to emerging nations.

While economic ties have improved significantly in recent years, they are still seen as falling short of their potential.

A landmark deal between the two countries in 2008 that allowed India to buy nuclear reactors and fuel was meant to lead to major contracts for US firms, but those hopes have been undermined by legal obstacles and uncertainty.

And the US was deeply disappointed in April when its bidders were dropped from the $12-billion competition to provide India with 126 combat aircraft, one of the largest military contracts of recent years.

Clinton's remarks at the strategic dialogue session will partly be aimed at "closing out the remaining obstacles and getting to full implementation" of the nuclear agreement, the US official said.

Ahead of Clinton's trip, 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 trade between the two countries increased by 30 percent to nearly $50 billion and that, including goods and services, the US was India's largest business partner.

Clinton, who was in Athens on Sunday to offer support for the Greek government as it tries to tackle its perilous and worsening debt crisis, is scheduled to head on to China, Hong Kong and Indonesia.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011