NEW DELHI -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in India yesterday for the second strategic dialogue between the two countries. The meeting's agenda was dominated by the need to strengthen strategic counterterrorism and defense cooperation, iron out wrinkles over nuclear cooperation and adapt to the tectonic shift in the geopolitics of the Afghanistan-Pakistan region.
The bilateral strategic dialogue was put into motion during Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna's visit to Washington in March. Though there was nothing to rival the high-adrenaline excitement surrounding the 2008 Indo-U.S. nuclear deal or the histrionics that characterized U.S. President Barack Obama's November 2010 visit, media interest was kept alive by the signing of two big-ticket deals, a free airing of differences on a raft of issues and the promise to build upon matters of convergence in Asia and beyond.
The tangible takeaways from Clinton's visit were two agreements: a bilateral air safety agreement that, among other things, will certify Indian-made air safety equipment for international use, and an agreement on cybersecurity between India's Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) and its U.S. counterpart.