Determined to move forward with its strategic relationship with India, a top US state department official will be visiting India in November with a large delegation to fulfil the direction given by their political leadership.
'We have a blueprint and a framework in the July 18, 2005 and March 2, 2006 joint statements of President Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,' undersecretary of state Nick Burns, told the Indian media Friday announcing his plans to visit New Delhi.
Describing the India-US civilian nuclear deal as the 'symbolic centre of the new strategic relationship' he said it was Washington's 'top concern, top objective and top legislative priority' for the lame duck session of the outgoing Congress when it resumes after the Nov 7 midterm poll.
'We hope very much the Senate will be able to take up and vote on the nuclear deal in the lame duck session,' he said, as there was wide bipartisan support for a deal which was in the best interests of both India and the US.
Besides meeting the new Indian foreign secretary Shivshankar Menon, and his predecessor Shyam Saran, who has been designated as special envoy for the nuclear deal, Burns said his team intended to try and augment anti-terrorism cooperation between the two countries to a greater level.
The US official would not say whether his visit to India would be before or after the lame duck session, but reiterated that there was wide bipartisan support for the deal with a large number of senators openly coming out in its favour.
Asked if Washington was 'irritated' by media reports that India had voted in favour of Venezuela for the Latin American non-permanent seat in the UN Security Council, Burns replied with an emphatic 'no'.
US has excellent relations with the government of India and nothing had changed in the last few months. In any case the two were sovereign nations with their own views on issues and they could have differences over a 100 matters if not a thousand, he said.