US looking for enduring friendship with India, says Rice

Washington, Oct 3 (PTI) Asserting that Indo-U.S. ties were on a "very firm footing", U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice has said the historic nuclear deal was part of the broader framework for a more "enduring" friendship with India.

"....It is indeed an historic agreement. It is an
agreement that cements an effort that we have been making for
some time to bring together the world's largest democracy with
the world's oldest continuous democracy," Rice said at a
reception by State Department to thank all those responsible
for getting the legislation through Congress.

Rice said she was looking forward to her visit to New
Delhi where she is likely to ink the nuclear agreement.

"The relationship between the United States and India
is on a very firm footing, and that can only be good for
democracy and it can only be good for the world," the top
official said.

"I've been on the phone with Foreign Minister (Pranab
Mukherjee) just a few minutes ago. He will go to Delhi. I
will join him there in a couple of days, and I look forward to
that," Rice said.

Rice said there were a lot of architects and driving
forces behind the agreement, which "is not the only element of
the relationship" with India and that the friendship runs
deeper and includes economic and cultural ties.

"... this has been Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and
President (George W. ) Bush's vision to have this agreement
cement and be one of the cornerstones of our relationship,
but I just want to take a moment to say that it is not the
only element of this relationship," she said.

"As much as the Civil Nuclear Agreement is a
breakthrough, this is also a friendship that is based on
values, a friendship that is based on ties, people-to-people
ties... It is a relationship that is cultural. It is a
relationship that goes very, very deep," Rice said.

"So as important as this agreement is, it is a part of
a much broader framework for our enduring friendship" she
added.

Acting Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee Christopher Dodd, who had made a spirited defence of
the deal, said the nuclear deal with act a "bedrock" for
closer ties between the two countries which will be a "beacon
of hope" for South Asia.

"There has been this sort of unspoken, but realised
tension over the past 35 years or so that we needed to get
beyond.

"And certainly, given the neighbourhood in which India
resides... this agreement will serve... as a foundation, a
bedrock for these two great democracies to serve as a –
hopefully, as a beacon of hope for people in that region," he
said.

Describing the passage of the bill as a "magic moment",
Ranking Republican on the Committee Senator Richard Lugar
pointed to the intense interest the deal had generated in the
two countries, including the packed Senate and visitors'
gallery on the day of the voting.

Among those attending the event were the Acting Under
Secretary for Arms Control and International Security John
Rood, Republican Congressman Ed Royce of California and
Ambassador Raminder Singh Jassal, the Charge d'Affairs of the
Indian Mission here.

".... the Civil Nuclear Initiative is one aspect of
India-U.S. ties. But because of – it represents such a change
and transformation, it became emblematic of the new
relationship. So we are at the end of the process and at the
beginning of deeper cooperation," Jassal said.

A large number of Indian American community leaders
were also present for the occasion.

"And I pay tribute to Secretary Rice for the
follow-through, through a long and tedious procedure, and the
Indian parliament for almost two years of difficulty, and in
our situation for the same period. We’ve grown together.
We like each other," Lugar said.

The issue of carbon control, climate change and global
warming, will come to the foreground in India and the United
States, he said, adding "we will be trying to do more with
nuclear power, nuclear energy to replace some of the
coal-fired furnaces in India and those in the United
States."