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US committed to closer ties with India: Jaswant

Source: PTI
June 02, 2005 18:54 IST
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The United States is committed towards building closer relations with India, former external affairs minister Jaswant Singh said.

He added that President George W Bush is the principal driving force in this regard.

The leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha was addressing reporters in Washington DC on Wednesday.

Talking about Indo-US relations, Singh said the two countries need not necessarily agree on everything but when they disagree, they should do so without being disagreeable.

On the gas pipeline issue, he noted that when he was a minister he had suggested that there should be a single pipeline to India via Pakistan for both Iranian and Central Asian energy.

To ensure that Indian interests are safeguarded, he had suggested that Iran would take responsibility for delivery of the gas on the Indian border and Pakistan would get rent for allowing the pipeline to pass through its territory.

Singh also met officials at the White House, State Department and Pentagon. He is the Indian representative in the strategic dialogue with the US that followed India's 1998 nuclear tests. 

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