Indian foreign secretary calls in US Ambassador

Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran called in the U.S. Ambassador David C Mulford here to convey to him that the remarks made by him with regards to India's vote on Iran were not conducive to building a strong partnership between the two nations, Indian Foreign Ministry said here Thursday night.

The foreign secretary informed the ambassador that India's vote on any possible resolution on the Iran nuclear issue at the IAEA would be determined by India's own judgement of the merits of the case. Concerning the proposed India-U.S. civil nuclear energy cooperation agreement, the foreign secretary reaffirmed India's stand that both countries needed to work in the spirit of the July-18-2005 Joint Statement signed by the Indian Prime Minister and U.S. President in the U.S., and in strict conformity with the reciprocal commitments contained therein.

The ambassador expressed his sincere regrets, saying that his remarks had been taken out of context. It was not at all his intention to question India's right to take decisions on various issues on the basis of its own national interests.

Shyam Saran and Mulford agreed that the two sides would work closely together for a successful visit by President George W. Bush to India. Wednesday, Mulford had said in an interview that if India did not vote against Iran's nuclear programme, the fallout on the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal in the Congress would be "devastating" and the initiative will "die".

"We have made it known to them (India) that we would very much like India's support because India has arrived on the world stage and is a very very important player in the world," Mulford had said in the interview, reports Xinhua. I.L.