New Delhi: US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will visit New Delhi next month to seek broader ties with India, especially in the areas of defense, counter-terrorism, intelligence sharing, science and technology and economics, a senior American official said on Thursday.
The Obama administration considers India "to be a crucial global partner to the United States in the 21st century," US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns told reporters after meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other leaders.
He gave Singh a letter from President Barrack Obama emphasizing the US commitment to broaden and deepen ties, he said.
"Clinton will visit India in the second half of July to make further progress in our relations," he told reporters.
Burns also met with new External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram and Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon.
"We are off to a very good start in our relations just a few weeks after the new Indian government has taken office and just a few months after the inauguration of a new American president," he said.
Singh led his Congress party to victory in India's national elections in May to win a second term as prime minister.
Burns lauded the India-US civil nuclear agreement signed last year during the Bush administration as a significant accomplishment.
Menon said last month that New Delhi was laying the groundwork for US companies to enter India's nuclear market in the aftermath of the nuclear deal.
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