Climate change, Afghanistan top Kerry’s agenda on Indian visit

The US and India have begun high-level talks on a wide range of issues, including nuclear cooperation, India's role in the upcoming Afghanistan elections, and climate change.

The fourth edition of the India-US Strategic Dialogue started in New Delhi this morning; co-chaired by visiting US Secretary of State John Kerry and India's External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid.

A press briefing is scheduled later today.

Kerry arrived in Delhi on a three-day visit; the second leg of his swing through the Middle-East and Asia.

The India-US Strategic Dialogue, inaugurated in 2009, is a forum to discuss the full range of US-India cooperation on bilateral and regional issues.

The topics officially listed for discussion during Kerry's visit include bilateral and regional economic engagement, regional security and defence, science and technology, climate change, and other global issues such as women's empowerment, nuclear non-proliferation, and space cooperation.

The drawdown of the US-led NATO forces in Afghanistan, the US proposal of talks with the Taliban, and mutual relations between the US, Pakistan and India are also on the agenda.

But going by Kerry's interactions with various forums and journalists on Sunday, climate change is on the top of his mind. He has made it clear that he expects India and US to cooperate in battling environmental degradation.

"The irreversible climate challenge is speeding towards us, crying out for a global solution,'' Kerry told a gathering of several hundred businessmen, students and others at a convention in New Delhi.

"The world's largest democracy and its oldest one must do more together, uniting not as a threat to anyone, not as a counterweight to a region or some other countries, but as partners building a strong, smart future in a critical age," he said, in an obvious reference to China.

More than half of India's power comes from coal; and while the US has emission issues of its own, it wants to see India and other nations in the region rely less on ageing coal generation facilities.

President Barak Obama's administration is reportedly is backing the proposed Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline that would bring energy to three power-starved regions.