Obama?s visit different from Clinton, Bush: Nirupama Rao

Amidst the continually escalating expectations from Barack Obama?s visit, Indian foreign secretary Nirupama Rao on Tuesday said she saw it as ?somewhat different? from those by the present U.S. President?s predecessors.

Obama?s Nov. 6-9 visit comes at a time when the Indo-U.S. relationship has matured significantly with tightening bonds in economic cooperation, counter-terrorism alliance and civil nuclear deals, she said.

?So, it is natural that this visit would be somewhat different from the visit of President Clinton, which took place 22 years after the visit of President Carter and, after a time of great strain in our relationship; or that of President Bush, when we were at an important build phase of the relationship,? Rao said.

Among the topics on the menu, Rao said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was especially keen to continue discussions on the global economic situation, terrorism, Afghanistan, and ?challenges emanating from Pakistan? with Obama.

Other areas to be focused during the talks include deepening bilateral cooperation in space, clean energy, healthcare, education and agriculture apart from strategic consultations on regional and global issues and promoting development, she said.

Acknowledging that there was still a lot to work upon, Rao said, ?We are not at a stage in our relationship for dramatic breakthroughs and big bang.?

However, the visit will be ?an opportunity to consolidate all that we have built in the past decade? and will see ?concrete and significant steps in a wide range of areas that will expand the long term strategic framework of the relationship?, she asserted.