Hillary Clinton to visit China, India, Bangladesh next month

PanARMENIAN.Net - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will next month visit India and Bangladesh after major meetings in China as the United States seeks to bolster ties in South Asia, the State Department said Thursday, April 26, AFP reported.

Clinton will pay her first visit as secretary of state to Bangladesh on May 5 followed by stops in Kolkata and New Delhi "to review progress in the strategic partnership" with India, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

As previously announced, Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will meet in China on May 3-4 for the Strategic and Economic Dialogue, the leading forum for managing relations between the world's two largest economies.

The talks in Beijing are expected to cover a broad range of issues from U.S. concerns over China's trade practices to the crises in North Korea and between Sudan and South Sudan.

President Barack Obama's administration, while seeking a stable working relationship with China, has called for a broader partnership with India in hopes that the world's largest democracy can play a greater global role.

But some analysts say that the momentum in U.S.-India relations has cooled recently as New Delhi moves slowly on economic reforms sought by Washington and hesitates over U.S. calls to end oil imports from Iran.

U.S. officials have been upbeat about building relations with Bangladesh due to its growing economy and the Muslim-majority country's opposition to Islamic extremism.