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US sanctions against India to go soon: Mansingh

Lalit Mansingh, Indian Ambassador to the US, has expressed the confidence that American sanctions against India would be lifted soon and said the growing Indo-US relations are not dependent on any third country.

Stating that his priority would be to work for lifting of the sanctions imposed after the 1998 nuclear tests, Mansingh noted that they had done more harm to US corporations than to India.

"The Americans need to be made aware of the fact that the sanctions have not affected India as its growth rate has continued to be around seven per cent but they did affect US corporations' ability to do business," he told reporters in New York.

To a question whether the US wants to improve relations with India to counteract the growing power of China, he said: "India wants the relations to stand on their own and be not dependent on any third country, whether Pakistan or China."

"We want bilateral relations," he asserted.

The Indian Ambassador said Defence Minister Jaswant Singh's unscheduled meeting with US President George W Bush during his recent visit to Washington showed the desire of the US administration to further strengthen relations with India.

Mansingh said the proposed visit of Joint Chief of Staff General Henry Shelton to India has significance in the context of improving relations between the two countries.

Asked if it would lead to sale of American arms to India, he said: "I would say it would be jumping the gun."

Mansingh said he would also work for further strengthening the Indian Caucus in the US Congress which now has around 120 members.

To a question, he said the contributions sent to the Prime Minister's relief fund for Gujarat earthquake victims had been fully accounted for and rejected the allegations that there was a large-scale corruption in distribution of relief.

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