Washington, July 08: Even though Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would not have a bilateral meeting with President Barack Obama during the G8-G5 Summit in Italy, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would visit India in the third week of this month to discuss wide ranging issues with Indian leadership which would be crucial for the future Indo-US relations.
Dr Singh would hold bilateral meetings with the leaders of Italy, Germany, Japan, the UK and Angola during the three-day G-8 and G-5 outreach meetings at L’Aquila in Italy. However, no separate bilateral meeting is scheduled with Mr Obama.
”The Prime Minister and Mr Obama would be sitting next to each other in the same room for about four hours during the G-8. They would talk to each other on various issues,” highly placed government functionaries said here today.
Meanwhile, Ms Clinton would visit India in third week of this month for two days during which she would hold discussions with External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and also meet the Prime Minister.
Terming Ms Clinton’s visit as an indicator of the progress made in the Indo-US relations, they said her first visit to the country as Secretary of State would serve as building blocks for the future of Indo-US relationship.
”We have good relationship and this would take it further.” New Delhi is satisfied with the statements made by the Secretary of State about Indo-US relations during the past few months, they added.
–Agencies