WASHINGTON -- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is urging greater counterterrorism cooperation among the United States, India and Pakistan and says she'll visit India next month as the Obama administration moves to strengthen ties with New Delhi.

Speaking to the U.S.-India Business Council on Wednesday, Clinton welcomed this week's meeting of the leaders of India and Pakistan - their first since last November's terrorist attacks in Mumbai that inflamed tensions between the nuclear armed rivals.

Clinton said she hoped that dialogue, along with Pakistan's recent moves to target extremists, would boost security in South Asia and around the world. She said she would visit New Delhi in July to build on recent improvements in U.S.-Indian cooperation on civilian nuclear energy, work on developing clean energy technology and perhaps begin negotiations on a bilateral trade agreement.




The Associated Press, June 17, 2009