[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book I)]
[March 21, 2000]
[Pages 502-504]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Joint Statement on United States-India Relations: A Vision for the
21st Century
March 21, 2000

    At the dawn of a new century, President Clinton and Prime Minister 
Vajpayee resolve to create a closer and 
qualitatively new relationship between the United States and India.
    We are two of the world's largest democracies. We are nations forged 
from many traditions and faiths, proving year after year that diversity 
is our strength. From vastly different origins and experiences, we have 
come to the same conclusions: that freedom and democracy are the 
strongest bases for both peace and prosperity, and that they are 
universal aspirations, constrained neither by culture nor levels of 
economic development.

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    There have been times in the past when our relationship drifted 
without a steady course. As we now look towards the future, we are 
convinced that it is time to chart a new and purposeful direction in our 
relationship.
    Globalization is erasing boundaries and building networks between 
nations and peoples, economies and cultures. The world is increasingly 
coming together around the democratic ideals India and the United States 
have long championed and lived by.
    Together, we represent a fifth of the world's people, more than a 
quarter of the world's economy. We have built creative, entrepreneurial 
societies. We are leaders in the information age. The currents of 
commerce and culture that link our societies run strong and deep. In 
many ways, the character of the 21st century world will depend on the 
success of our cooperation for peace, prosperity, democracy and freedom.
    That presents us with an opportunity, but also a profound 
responsibility to work together. Our partnership of shared ideals leads 
us to seek a natural partnership of shared endeavors.
    In the new century, India and the United States will be partners in 
peace, with a common interest in and complementary responsibility for 
ensuring regional and international security. We will engage in regular 
consultations on, and work together for, strategic stability in Asia and 
beyond. We will bolster joint efforts to counter terrorism and meet 
other challenges to regional peace. We will strengthen the international 
security system, including in the United Nations, and support the United 
Nations in its peacekeeping efforts. We acknowledge that tensions in 
South Asia can only be resolved by the nations of South Asia. India is 
committed to enhancing cooperation, peace and stability in the region.
    India and the United States share a commitment to reducing and 
ultimately eliminating nuclear weapons, but we have not always agreed on 
how to reach this common goal. The United States believes India should 
forgo nuclear weapons. India believes that it needs to maintain a 
credible minimum nuclear deterrent in keeping with its own assessment of 
its security needs. Nonetheless, India and the U.S. are prepared to work 
together to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons and their means 
of delivery. To this end, we will persist with and build upon the 
productive bilateral dialogue already underway.
    We reaffirm our respective voluntary commitments to forgo further 
nuclear explosive tests. We will work together and with others for an 
early commencement of negotiations on a treaty to end the production of 
fissile materials for nuclear weapons. We have both shown strong 
commitments to export controls, and will continue to strengthen them. We 
will work together to prevent the spread of dangerous technologies. We 
are committed to build confidence and reduce the chances of 
miscalculation. We will pursue our security needs in a restrained and 
responsible manner, and will not engage in nuclear and missile arms 
races. We will seek to narrow our differences and increase mutual 
understanding on non-proliferation and security issues. This will help 
us to realize the full potential of Indo-U.S. relations and contribute 
significantly to regional and global security.
    The true measure of our strength lies in the ability of our people 
to shape their destiny and to realize their aspirations for a better 
life. That is why the United States and India are and will be allies in 
the cause of democracy. We will share our experience in nurturing and 
strengthening democratic institutions the world over and fighting the 
challenge to democratic order from forces such as terrorism. We will 
cooperate with others to launch an international Community of 
Democracies this year.
    The United States applauds India's success in opening its economy, 
its achievements in science and technology, its commitment to a new wave 
of economic expansion and reform, and its determination to bring the 
benefits of economic growth to all its people. Our nations pledge to 
reduce impediments to bilateral trade and investment and to expand 
commerce between us, especially in the emerging knowledge-based 
industries and high-technology areas.
    We will work together to preserve stability and growth in the global 
economy as well. And we will join in an unrelenting battle against 
poverty in the world, so that the promise of a new economy is felt 
everywhere and no nation is left behind. That is among the fundamental 
challenges of our time. Opening trade and resisting protectionism are 
the best means for meeting it. We support an open, equitable and 
transparent rule-based multilateral trading system, and we will work 
together to strengthen it. We agree that developed countries should 
embrace policies that offer developing countries the opportunity to 
grow, because growth is the

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key to rising incomes and rising standards. At the same time, we share 
the conviction that human development also requires empowerment of 
people and availability of basic freedoms.
    As leaders in the forefront of the new high-technology economy, we 
recognize that countries can achieve robust economic growth while 
protecting the environment and taking action to combat climate change. 
We will do our part to meet the global environmental challenges, 
including climate change and the impacts of air and water pollution on 
human health.
    We also pledge a common effort to battle the infectious diseases 
that kill people and retard progress in so many countries. India is at 
the forefront of the global effort that has brought us to the threshold 
of the eradication of polio. With leadership, joint research, and 
application of modern science, we can and will do the same for the 
leading killers of our time, including AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
    We are proud of the cooperation between Indians and Americans in 
advancing frontiers of knowledge. But even as we unravel the mysteries 
of time and space, we must continue to apply our knowledge to older 
challenges: eradicating human suffering, disease and poverty. In the 
past, our cooperation helped ease mass hunger in the world. In the 
future, it will focus as well on the development of clean energy, 
health, and education.
    Our partnership is not an end in itself, but a means to all these 
ends. And it is reinforced by the ties of scholarship, commerce, and 
increasingly of kinship among our people. The industry, enterprise and 
cultural contributions of Americans of Indian heritage have enriched and 
enlivened both our societies.
    Today, we pledge to deepen the Indian-American partnership in 
tangible ways, always seeking to reconcile our differences through 
dialogue and engagement, always seizing opportunities to advance the 
countless interests we have in common. As a first step, President 
Clinton has invited Prime Minister Vajpayee to visit Washington at a mutually convenient 
opportunity, and the Prime Minister has accepted that invitation. 
Henceforth, the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of 
India should meet regularly to institutionalize our dialogue. We have 
also agreed on and separately outlined an architecture of additional 
high-level consultations, and of joint working groups, across the broad 
spectrum of areas in which we are determined to institutionalize our 
enhanced cooperation. And we will encourage even stronger people-to-
people ties.
    For India and the United States, this is a day of new beginnings. We 
have before us for the first time in 50 years the possibility to realize 
the full potential of our relationship. We will work to seize that 
chance, for our benefit and all those with whom we share this 
increasingly interdependent world.

William Jefferson Clinton               Atal Behari Vajpayee
President                               Prime Minister
United States of America                India
 

Done on March 21, 2000 at New Delhi

Note: An original was not available for verification of the content of 
this joint statement.