[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 5897-5898]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                 IMPROVED UNITED STATES-INDIA RELATIONS

  Mr. TORRICELLI. Mr. President, I rise today to welcome to our 
nation's capital the Honorable Jaswant Singh, Minister of External 
Affairs and Defense for the Republic of India. Minister Singh's visit 
will be an opportunity to reaffirm the warm relations between our 
countries as a new Administration gets established in Washington. The 
Minister's visit to Washington will include meetings with the Secretary 
of State and the Secretary of Defense, as well as the National Security 
Advisor.
  Minister Singh's visit comes at a time of major transition in U.S.-
India relations. Last month, Washington welcomed the arrival of the new 
Indian Ambassador to Washington, Mr. Lalit Mansingh. Ambassador 
Mansingh succeeds Ambassador Naresh Chandra, who was well known and 
admired by many in Congress during his tenure. Ambassador Mansingh 
presented his credentials to Secretary of State Powell on March 23, and 
the two discussed a wide range of issues concerning the future of U.S.-
India relations. Secretary Powell reiterated President Bush's intention 
to ``build on the good work done in the past.''
  I hope that the message from the new Administration to Mr. Singh will 
be one of support for building on the progress in U.S.-India relations 
that we have seen for much of the past decade. After years of being 
treated as a relatively low priority, the U.S.-India relationship has, 
since the early 1990s, steadily moved to a higher priority on the 
American foreign policy agenda.
  President Clinton's Administration recognized the importance of 
India, as a trading partner, as a force for stability in Asia, and as a 
leader for democracy and prosperity in the developing world. The 
Clinton Administration also recognized the wonderful resource that the 
Indian-American community, over a million strong, represents in 
building closer ties between the world's two largest democracies.
  I hope that the Bush Administration will continue this progress. The 
early signs are that the Administration recognizes the significance of 
India to the United States. In announcing the nomination of Robert D. 
Blackwill as his choice to be the next Ambassador to India, President 
Bush spoke of ``the important place India holds in my foreign policy 
agenda.''
  I look forward to reviewing Mr. Blackwill's nomination in my role as 
a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. If Mr. Blackwill is 
confirmed, he would succeed U.S. Ambassador Richard Celeste, the former

[[Page 5898]]

Governor of Ohio. Ambassador Celeste, who presented his credentials in 
November 1997, has served during an eventful time in U.S.-India 
relations. In the past two months, as India recovers from the 
devastating earthquake that struck the state of Gujarat on January 26, 
Ambassador Celeste has done an excellent job of helping to coordinate 
the American aid effort. As he prepares to leave New Delhi, I want to 
congratulate Ambassador Celeste for a job well done.
  In the past year, with President Clinton visiting India in March and 
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee visiting the United States in 
September, the level of friendship and partnership between India and 
the United States is perhaps the highest it has ever been. During last 
year's summits between President Clinton and Prime Minister Vajpayee, 
the United States and India signed a series of agreements to accelerate 
bilateral cooperation in a wide range of areas. The U.S.-India Vision 
Statement of March 2000, signed in New Delhi, pledged cooperation on 
counter-terrorism. The two countries also pledged to cooperate on 
issues of nuclear non-proliferation. That agreement also established 
the U.S.-India Financial and Economic Forum, the U.S.-India Commercial 
Dialogue, and the U.S.-India Working Group on Trade. Minister Singh and 
then Secretary of State Madeleine Albright signed a joint statement on 
cooperation in energy and environment in a ceremony at the Taj Mahal in 
March 2000.
  This week, President Clinton has returned to India to visit the State 
of Gujarat, scene of January's devastating earthquake that left an 
estimated 18,000 people dead, and thousands of people homeless.
  While the trend in relations between the United States and India has 
been positive, there is still a great deal of work to be done. The 
visit to Washington by External Affairs and Defense Minister Singh, 
just a few months into the new Administration, offers an opportunity to 
build in the work of the past few years, while charting a new course 
for even closer ties between our two countries.

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