India has a place at the table of global powers: Celeste

By C. Raja Mohan

NEW DELHI, APRIL 19. Welcoming India's peace initiative in Jammu and Kashmir, the outgoing U.S. Ambassador to India, Mr. Richard F. Celeste, hoped that Indian and Pakistani leaders would soon engage each other at the highest political level.

Mr. Celeste, who has seen a rapid and positive transformation of Indo-U.S. relations under his watch, insisted that the dialogue between New Delhi and Washington is no longer focussed exclusively on questions of regional stability and Indo- Pak. relations.

Pointing to the view in the Bush administration that India has earned its place ``at the table of global powers'', Mr. Celeste said the interests, influence and impact of India ``extend beyond the South Asian region to the global arena''.

While the new Indo-U.S. agenda has come to include such global issues as cross-border terrorism and energy security, Mr. Celeste referred to the continuing U.S. interest in an early solution to the Kashmir dispute and the normalisation of Indo-Pak relations.

Counselling ``patience and persistence on all sides'' to the Kashmir dispute, Mr. Celeste told a distinguished audience at the India International Centre this evening that ``this new season of hope will yield the fruits of a dignified and lasting concord''.

In his farewell speech after three-and-a-half difficult but rewarding years here as the U.S. Ambassador, Mr. Celeste declared that ``only a sustained engagement at the political level can yield a resolution of the differences between India and Pakistan''.

Conceding that a fruitful interaction between India and Pakistan is ``much easier said than done'', Mr. Celeste urged the Prime Minister Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, and the Pakistani Chief Executive, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, to make ``bold in the cause of reconciliation''.

Restating U.S. concerns about nuclear tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad, Mr. Celeste said Washington values the Indian commitments to the nuclear test moratorium and a no-first- use policy.

Mr. Celeste also recognised that ``India does not seek to create an offensive nuclear capability'' and hoped that this would provide a ``positive foundation'' for future nuclear dialogue between the two nations.

Mr. Celeste referred to the contributions made by the former U.S. President, Mr. Bill Clinton, and said the President, Mr. George Bush, shares ``the same enthusiasm'' for India. The new President's personal interest in India, Mr. Celeste said, ``will add vibrancy to the existing institutional relationship''.

The U.S. Ambassador who will leave India next week, welcomed the contributions of the Information Technology sector to bilateral economic relations and the potential of biotechnology as the ``next hot sector of the Indian economy''.

Insisting that the Indian economy must become a destination for foreign investment in all sectors, Mr. Celeste urged India ``press on with its reform agenda''.

In a veiled reference to the unfolding recrimination over the Enron power project in Maharashtra, Mr. Celeste urged India to ``resist'' calls for ``political intervention to nullify contracts which have been transparently and honestly concluded''.

Calling the Indian diaspora in the United States ``a visible engine which energizes our relationship'', Mr. Celeste said ``Singhs and Shahs and Patels and Reddys and Jhas and Subramaniams and Khans and Matthews'' have become ``American names now''. ``And we are proud of them,'' Mr. Celeste declared.

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