In a bid to give fresh momentum to bilateral ties, which have slowed in recent years, India and the US have agreed to set a September target for signing the commercial agreement between the two entities representing them.
The attempt to give a fillip to bilateral relations, which appeared to have reached a plateau in recent times, was made during the fourth round of the India-US Strategic Dialogue held in the national capital on Monday.
The meeting was co-chaired by visiting US secretary of state John Kerry and external affairs minister Salman Khurshid.
Apart from working towards finalising the commercial pact, which may be signed during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s bilateral visit to the United States in September or early October, it was also decided that US vice-president Joe Biden would be coming to India next month.
With Washington also extremely eager to give a greater thrust to economic and trade ties with India, these figured prominently in the discussions with New Delhi assuring the US about its commitment to the proposed bilateral investment promotion treaty.
It is a measure of the importance that both New Delhi and Washington are attaching to reigniting their relationship that two high-level visits will be taking place in such close succession.
United States vice-president Joe Biden’s visit was announced by Mr Kerry on the conclusion of the strategic dialogue.
President Barack Obama was here in 2010, which will make the US vice-president’s trip to India the highest-level visit in the last three years.
And, before the PM goes to Washington at the invitation of President Obama, the two sides will be hoping to finalise the commercial agreement between the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd and energy major Westinghouse Electric Company.