[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 45 (Monday, November 12, 2001)]
[Pages 1621-1623]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Joint Statement Between the United States of America and the Republic of 
India

November 9, 2001

    Since September 11, the people of the United States and India have 
been united as never before in the fight against terrorism. In so doing, 
they have together reaffirmed the enduring ties between both nations, 
and the importance of further transforming the U.S.-India relationship. 
In their meeting, President Bush and Prime Minister Vajpayee discussed 
ways to accelerate progress towards these goals.
    They noted that both countries are targets of terrorism, as seen in 
the barbaric attacks on September 11 in the United States and on October 
1 in Kashmir. They agreed that terrorism threatens not only the security 
of the United States and India, but also our efforts to build freedom, 
democracy and international security and stability around the world. As 
leaders of the two largest multi-cultural democracies, they emphasized 
that those who equate terrorism with any religion are as wrong as those 
who invoke religion to commit, support or justify terrorist acts.
    The two leaders remembered the victims of the many nationalities in 
the terrorist attacks on September 11 and agreed that all appropriate 
steps should be taken to bring the perpetrators to justice, while 
protecting the lives and welfare of the people affected by these 
efforts. They noted that both countries are providing humanitarian 
assistance to the people of Afghanistan.
    They affirmed the current campaign against the Al-Qaida network and 
the Taliban

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in Afghanistan is an important step in a global war against terrorism 
and its sponsors everywhere in the world. They recognized that the 
international community will have to wage a long and multi-faceted 
struggle against terrorism, with patience, determination and unwavering 
focus. They emphasized that there is only one choice and only one 
outcome: terrorism must be fought and it shall be defeated.
    President Bush and Prime Minister Vajpayee agreed that success in 
this endeavor would depend heavily on building international cooperation 
and securing the unambiguous commitment of all nations to share 
information and intelligence on terrorists and deny them support, 
sustenance and safe havens. The two leaders agreed to consult regularly 
on the future of Afghanistan. They welcomed the measures outlined in the 
UNSCR 1373 and called on all nations to ratify and implement existing UN 
Conventions on counter-terrorism. They expressed support for India's 
draft Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism and urged the 
resolution of outstanding issues to enable its adoption by the UNGA.
    The leaders of the two countries expressed satisfaction with the 
progress made in India-U.S. cooperation on counter-terrorism, including 
the Joint Working Group on Counter-Terrorism established in January 
2000. They reaffirmed their personal commitment, and that of their two 
countries, to intensify bilateral cooperation as a critical element in 
the global effort against terrorism. They also announced the 
establishment of a Joint Cyber-Terrorism Initiative.
    Prime Minister Vajpayee and President Bush agreed that developments 
in Afghanistan have a direct impact on its entire neighborhood. They 
emphasized that the Taliban and the Al-Qaida network have turned 
Afghanistan into a center of terrorism, extremism, and drug trafficking 
and have brought immense suffering to the Afghan people. They agreed 
that a peaceful, progressive, and prosperous Afghanistan requires a 
broad-based government, representing all ethnic and religious groups, 
friendly with all countries in the neighborhood and beyond, as well as 
sizeable and sustained international assistance for Afghanistan's 
economic reconstruction and development. The two leaders committed 
themselves to work together, and in partnership with other countries and 
international organizations, to achieve these goals.
    President Bush and Prime Minister Vajpayee also affirmed their 
commitment to complete the process of qualitatively transforming U.S.-
India relations in pursuit of their many common goals in Asia and 
beyond. They agreed that U.S.-India relations draw strength from the 
broad political support that exits in both democracies. They expressed 
satisfaction at the high level of engagement and progress in bilateral 
cooperation over the last ten months. In particular, they reiterated 
their support for the wide-ranging bilateral dialogue architecture 
established in March 2000. The two leaders agreed that recent lifting of 
economic, military and technology restrictions on India provides a 
further impetus to bilateral relations. They welcomed the resumption of 
the bilateral Defense Policy Group as a step towards increasing 
exchanges and technical cooperation in the defense and security areas. 
They noted that India's interest in purchasing arms from the United 
States would be discussed at the Defense Policy Group meetings in 
December 2001. The two leaders agreed to pursue policies to enhance the 
mutually beneficial--and growing--economic and commercial ties between 
their nations. They also agreed to expand the Bilateral Economic 
Dialogue and to broaden dialogue and cooperation in the areas of energy, 
the environment, health, space, export controls, science and technology, 
including biotechnology and information technology. They agreed that the 
two sides should discuss ways to stimulate bilateral high technology 
commerce. They also agreed that we should begin a dialogue between the 
two governments with a view towards evaluating the processes by which we 
transfer dual-use and military items, with a view towards greater 
transparency and efficiency. In addition, the United States and India 
have a mutual interest in space and have agreed to initiate discussions 
on civil space cooperation.
    The two leaders expressed confidence that enhancing their 
cooperation in all these areas will go far towards building a long-term 
partnership between the United States and India

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that will greatly benefit citizens of both their nations.

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