U.S. secretary of State John Kerry visited the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi on Wednesday to speak to the students.
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“We have to ensure that terrorists have no place to hide, prepare or plan”.
“You have to able to operate under conditions that attract investment capital – whether it’s foreign capital or domestic capital”, Kerry told students.
US Secretary of State John Kerry during a joint news conference with New Delhi.
“If it is all coal, we are all in trouble”, said Kerry, a long-time strong advocate of clean energy from his years as a USA senator.
India accuses Pakistan of being responsible for carrying out both the attacks.
The American delegation, headed by Kerry and Pritzker, also discussed ways of deepening cooperation in the energy, trade and business fields with the Indian team led by Swaraj and Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
Kerry’s proposed visit to three religious sites in the city – Gauri Shankar temple, Jama Masjid and Gurdwara Sisganj Sahib – was cancelled as heavy rains lashed the national capital on Wednesday morning.
New Delhi has rejected Pakistan’s invitation to hold talks on the future of Jammu and Kashmir, India’s northernmost state, saying it is an integral part of the nation.
The Centre faced criticism from the Congress after defence minister Manohar Parrikar signed a logistics pact with the U.S. last night that allows American ships, planes and ground personnel to use Indian bases in times of war.
The situation in Indian-ruled Kashmir and concerns over Afghanistan will be raised in talks on Tuesday with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, and on Wednesday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a senior USA official said.
Sitharaman said India and the US have agreed to add a partnership in the travel and tourism sector to the existing work streams under the bilateral Strategic and Commercial Dialogue.
Sushma Swaraj said that she briefed Kerry on the continuing problem of cross-border terrorism that India and the larger region faces from Pakistan.
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“Progress is being made and the Pakistanis are moving at a greater pace”, Kerry noted, adding that India should understand that Pakistan has also suffered greatly from terrorism with 50,000 Pakistanis having been killed in attacks by extremists.
