US expresses concern over growing menace of terrorism

The US Department of State has expressed concern over the growing menace of terrorism across nations.

He was speaking on the issue of ‘Indian Globalisation and the Transformation of U.S-India Relations’ in Washington, DC.

He also expressed his condolences to the families of the victims of Tuesday’s terrorist attack in the holy city of Varanasi.

Going back to the pages of history nearly 70 years ago, Assistant Secretary Robert O Blake, Jr, Bureau of South and Central Asia Affairs, U S Department of State, said: “President Franklin Roosevelt identified the four essential human freedoms: freedom from fear; freedom of speech and expression; freedom of every person to worship in his or her own way; and freedom from want.”

”These fundamental freedoms underpin our society; they also function as catalysts for social, economic, and political progress. While these values have existed in India since its independence, they are now becoming increasingly apparent to the world at large,” he said.

“Our two countries have travelled a great distance since then under Democratic and Republican Administrations, reflecting the bi-partisan support in both countries for expanding ties.

“The Bush Administration deserves great credit for the landmark civil nuclear deal that marked a key turning point,” he added.

”I believe President Obama?s recently-concluded trip will be remembered as another watershed, when the U.S. and India embarked for the first time on concrete initiatives to develop our global strategic partnership,” he said.

The US and India had signed a memorandum of understanding that provides a general framework for cooperation in connection with India?s Global Centre for Nuclear Energy Partnership, which India announced at the 2010 Nuclear Security Summit.

” We have committed to jointly developing, deploying, and commercializing innovative clean energy technologies to achieve that goal through the bilateral Partnership to Advance Clean Energy, or PACE,” he said.

President Obama and Prime Minister Singh announced during the President?s visit that the U.S. and India will begin trilateral cooperation with Afghanistan to capitalize on the significant efforts both of our countries are making to stabilize Afghanistan.

Specifically, our two leaders agreed to pursue joint development projects in Afghanistan in agriculture and women’s empowerment and to strengthen capacity building efforts.

They also agreed that for the first time, the U.S. and India will adapt our shared innovations and technologies and use our expertise in capacity building to extend food security to other interested countries, particularly in Africa.

The U.S. and India signed an MOU establishing a Global Disease Detection network, which will involve a number of collaborative activities, such as emerging disease detection, pandemic influenza preparedness and response, laboratory containment systems, and bio-safety training and capacity building.

The strides the United States and India have made in the last ten years have been impressive, but we know that the full potential of the global strategic partnership lies in the hands of succeeding generations.

Incidentally, President Barack Obama, during his visit to India announced deals whose worth exceeded $14.9 billion in total value, with $9.5 billion in U.S. export content, supporting an estimated 53,670 U.S. jobs.

In recent article in Foreign Affairs, Secretary Clinton had written, ?today’s world is a crucible of challenges testing American leadership. Global problems, from violent extremism to worldwide recession to climate change to poverty, demand collective solutions, even as power in the world becomes more diffuse.

“They require effective international cooperation, even as that becomes harder to achieve. And they cannot be solved unless a nation is willing to accept the responsibility of mobilizing action.?