Title: Text of 'Vision'
statement
Author:
Publications: The Hindu
Date: March 22, 2000
NEW DELHI, March 21.
The following is the text of the statement titled "India-U.S. Relations
: A Vision for the 21st Century", signed by the U.S. President, Mr.
Bill Clinton and the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee : At the
dawn of the new century, Prime Minister, Mr. Vajpayee and President, Mr.
Clinton resolve to create a closer and qualitatively new relationship between
India and the United States.
We are two of the world's
largest democracies. We are nations forged from many traditions and
faiths, proving year after year that diversity is our strength. From
vastly different origins and experiences, we have come to the same conclusions:
that freedom and democracy are the strongest bases for both peace and prosperity,
and that they are universal aspirations, constrained neither by culture
nor levels of economic development.
There have been times
in the past when our relationship drifted without a steady course.
As we now look towards the future, we are convinced that it is time to
chart a new and purposeful direction in our relationship.
Globalization is erasing
boundaries and building networks between nations and peoples, economics
and cultures. The world is increasingly coming together around the
democratic ideals India and the United States have long championed and
lived by.
Together, we represent
a fifth of the world's people, more than a quarter of the world's economy.
We have built creative, entreprene rial societies. We are leaders
in the information age. The currents of commerce and culture that
link our societies run strong and deep. In many ways, the character of
the 21st century world will depend on the success of our co-operation for
peace, prosperity, democracy and freedom. That presents us with an
opportunity, but also a profound responsibility to work together.
Our partnership of shared ideals leads us to seek a natural partnership
of shared endeavors.
In the new century, India
and the United States will be partners in peace, with a common interest
in and complementary responsibility for ensuring regional and international
security. We will engage in regular consultations on, and work together
and with others for, strategic stability in Asia and beyond. We will bolster
joint efforts to counter terrorism and meet other challenges to regional
peace. We will strengthen the international security system, including
in the United Nations and support the United Nations in its peacekeeping
efforts. We acknowledge that tensions in South Asia can only be resolved
by the nations of South Asia. India is committed to enhancing cooperation,
peace and stability in the region.
India and the United
States share a commitment to reducing and ultimately eliminating nuclear
weapons, but we have not always agreed on how to reach this common goal.
The United States believes India should forgo nuclear weapons. India
believes that it needs to maintain a credible minimum nuclear deterrent
in keeping with its own assessment of its security needs. Nonetheless,
India and the U.S. are prepared to work together to prevent the proliferation
of nuclear weapons and their means of delivery. To this end, we will
persist with and build upon the productive bilateral dialogue already underway.
We reaffirm our respective
voluntary commitment to forgo further nuclear explosive tests. We will
work together and with others for an early commencement of negotiations
on a treaty to end the production of fissile materials for nuclear weapons.
We have both shown strong commitment to export controls, and will continue
to strengthen them. We will work together to prevent the spread of
dangerous technologies. We are committed to build confidence and
reduce the chances of miscalculation. We will pursue our security
needs in a restrained and responsible manner and will not engage in nuclear
and missile arms races. We will seek to narrow our differences
and increase mutual understanding on non-proliferation and security issues.
This will help us to realize the full potential of Indo-U.S. relations
and contribute significantly to regional and global security.
The true measure of our
strength lies in the ability of our people to shape their destiny and to
realize their aspirations for a better life. That is why the United
States and India are and will be allies in the cause of democracy.
We will share our experience in nurturing and strengthening democratic
institutions the world over, and fighting the challenge to democratic order
from forces such as terrorism. We will co-operate with others to launch
an international Community of Democracies this year.
The United States applauds
India's success in opening its economy, its achievements in science and
technology, its commitment to a new wave of economic expansion and reform,
and its determination to bring the benefits of economic growth to all its
people. Our nations pledge to reduce impediments to bilateral trade
and investment and to expand commerce between us, especially in the emerging
knowledge-based industries and high-technology areas.
We will work together
to preserve stability and growth in the global economy as well. And
we will join in an unrelenting battle against poverty in the world, so
that the promise of a new economy is felt everywhere and no nation is left
behind. That is among the fundamental challenges of our time.
Opening trade and resisting protectionism are the best means for meeting
it. We support an open, equitable and transparent rule-based multilateral
trading system, and we will work together to strengthen it.
We agree that developed countries should embrace po1icies that offer developing
countries the opportunities to grow, because growth is the key to rising
incomes and rising standards. At the same time, we share the conviction
that human development also requires empowerment of people and availability
of basic freedoms. As leaders in the forefront of the new high-technology
economy, we recognize that countries can achieve robust economic growth
while protecting the environment and taking action to combat climate change.
We will do our part to meet the global environmental challenges, including
climate change and the impacts of air and water pollution on human health.
We also pledge a common
effort to battle the infectious diseases that kill people and retard progress
in so many countries. India is at the forefront of the global effort that
has brought us to the threshold of the eradication of polio. With
leadership, joint research and application of modem science, we can and
will do the same for the leading killers of our time, including AIDS, malaria
and tuberculosis.
We are proud of the co-operation
between Indians and Americans in advancing frontiers of knowledge. But
even as we unravel the mysteries of time and space, we must continue to
apply our knowledge to older challenges: eradicating human suffering, disease
and poverty. In the past, our co-operation helped case mass hunger in the
world. In the future, it will focus as well on the development of clean
energy, health and education. Our partnership is not an end in itself,
but a means to all these ends. And it is reinforced by the ties of
scholarship, commerce, and increasingly of kinship among our people.
The industry, enterprise and cultural contributions of Americans of Indian
heritage have enriched and enlivened both our societies.
Today, we pledge to deepen
the Indian-American partnership in tangible ways, always seeking to reconcile
our differences through dialogue and engagement, always seizing opportunities
to advance the, countless interests we have in common. As a first
step, President Clinton has invited Prime Minister Vajpayee to visit Washington
at a mutually convenient opportunity, and the Prime Minister had accepted
that invitation. Henceforth, the President of the United States and the
Prime Minister of India should meet regularly to institutionalize our dialogue.
We have also agreed on and separately outlined an architecture of additional
high-level consultations, and of joint working groups, across the broad
spectrum of areas in which we are determined to institutionalize our enhanced
cooperation. And we will encourage even stronger people-to-people ties.
For India and the United
States, this is a day of new beginnings. We have before us for the
first time in 50 years the possibility to realise the full potential of
our relationship. We will work to seize that chance, for our benefit
and for all those with whom we share this increasingly interdependent world.