US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in New Delhi on Monday night to attend the second round of Indo-US strategic dialogue on Tuesday when the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan and cooperation in counter-terrorism in the backdrop of recent Mumbai blasts will be discussed.
On a two-day official visit to India, she is accompanied by 25-member delegation including top security officials in the US Administration and will hold talks with her counterpart External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on a host of key bilateral, regional and international issues.
Apart from calling on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and meeting National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon, Clinton will hold parleys with several senior political leaders including UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi.
She will begin her official engagements in New Delhi on Tuesday with a breakfast meeting with the National Security Advisor followed by the Indo-US dialogue after which she will call on the Prime Minister.
Coming less than a week after the Mumbai terror blasts which killed 19 people, discussions on security challenges in the region are expected to be high on the agenda with the US asserting that they are "committed to this important relationship with India with regard to cooperation in counter-terrorism and security concerns and we will be as responsive as we can be."
On Wednesday, Clinton will be travelling to Chennai where she is likely to meet representatives of US companies.
Besides the situation in the region, Indo-US civil nuclear cooperation will also be part of the strategic dialogue during which India is expected to talk about American visa regime which is impacting on the movement of Indian IT professionals to that country.
