Indian PM leaves on first state visit of US

NEW DELHI (AFP) – Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh left for the United States on Saturday with talks on terrorism and the global economy expected to dominate the agenda.

Singh's November 22-26 visit to Washington is the first full-fledged state visit of US President Barack Obama's presidency, featuring a ceremonial welcome and black-tie dinner at the White House.

Singh, who will hold formal talks with Obama on Tuesday, will also hold discussions with Vice-President Joseph Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defence Secretary Robert Gates besides the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi.

In a departure statement, Singh said he looked forward to discussing "global threats and challenges of our times, such as international terrorism, climate change ... (and) the global economic slowdown" besides other issues.

"I also expect to discuss the situation in Afghanistan and other regional issues," he said.

India, which is expected to sign a counter-terrorism pact during this trip, is uncomfortable with Washington's reliance on arch-rival Pakistan in the US military campaign in Afghanistan.

New Delhi has expressed concerns that military and financial aid to Pakistan to help curb a resurgent Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan and parts of its northwest could be used by Islamabad to bolster its defences against India.

Briefing reporters Friday, Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said India "has a stake in the success of the Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy" outlined by the Obama administration earlier this year to stabilise Afghanistan.

Singh's visit "affords us the opportunity to articulate our concerns about the situation in Pakistan, particularly with reference to the activities of terrorist groups operating from Pakistani soil", Rao said.

India accuses elements of the Pakistani establishment of supporting an Islamist insurgency in the disputed region of Kashmir, the trigger for two of the three wars between the two nuclear-armed rivals since 1947.

New Delhi also blames "official agencies" in Pakistan for helping the 10 gunmen mount last November's Mumbai attacks in which 166 people including six Americans were killed.

Ahead of the Indian delegation's departure, the head of the US Central Intelligence Agency, Leon Panetta, met India's National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan in New Delhi and discussed the situation in the region, an Indian official said.

Singh, in his statement, noted the marked improvement in India-US ties in recent years and said New Delhi looked forward to "adding greater substance" to cooperation in areas including trade and investment, energy, defence and high technology trade.

The Singh-Obama summit comes days after the US president paid his closely watched visit to Asian giant China last week.

Singh shared a cordial rapport with Obama's predecessor, former president George W. Bush, who is credited with transforming India-US ties by lifting a three-decade-old embargo against India's civilian nuclear programme.

The move ended India's nuclear pariah status and allowed New Delhi access to Western technology and cheap atomic energy.

Talks are underway to finalise various details ahead of the implementation of the civilian nuclear deal including a pact allowing India to reprocess spent fuel in atomic power plants, Rao added.

Washington is keen to get New Delhi to sign up to global nuclear test ban and non-proliferation pacts that India describes as discriminatory and against its national security interests.