Clinton to come to India in July: Krishna

New Delhi -  External Affairs minister S.M. Krishna Tuesday said he will meet US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton here this July when the two sides are to hold their strategic dialogue on defence and security, economics and trade, and other issues.

"I visited Washington last year and I expect Secretary Clinton to come to Delhi in July of this year," Krishna said at an event to release the National Security Index 2010 here Tuesday.

"We have a very structured security relationship with the US. We have entered into a civil nuclear accord and we have our annual meeting of the commission....So I think our mutual interests are being well taken care of," he said in response to questions from senior diplomacy and security experts present at the event.

The "strategic dialogue" was established in July 2009 during Clinton's visit to India with the objective of strengthening bilateral cooperation in five areas, including strategic cooperation on non-proliferation, counter-terrorism and military matters; energy and climate change; education and development on education and women's empowerment; economics, trade and agriculture on business, trade and food security; and science and technology, health and innovation on major technologies and global health challenges.

The first round of the dialogue was held in Washington in June 2010 when Krishna led the Indian delegation.

Among the security issues that are likely to come up during the July meet include the sale of 10 C-17 heavylift transport aircraft worth $5.8 billion, bilateral defence agreements such as Communications Inter-operability and Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA) for sharing of technologies in this field, Logistics Support Agreement (LSA) for cashless supplies to each other's military, and Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) for geo-spatial cooperation.

When Clinton had visited in 2009, India and US had signed a generic End-User Monitoring Agreement for inspection of American military equipment supplied to the Indian armed forces to ensure that they are used for intended purposes.