The US Vice President Joe Biden is slated to visit India in late July, this year. India-US CEO Forum will meet in US on July 12 to discuss prospects of removing irritants in bilateral trade and investment.

“We understand India’s policy on Iran, “said the visiting US Secretary of State Jon F Kerry after the conclusion of the 4th India-US Strategic Dialogue here on Monday.
He appreciated India reducing its oil dependency on Iran.

Kerry hoped that a commercial agreement on civil nuclear deal with India will be signed by September, this year.

“Iran should not miscalculate the US, the UN and other relevant international agencies. We urge India to take advantage of the new regime and convince Iran on the need for global peace and security,” he said.

The Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, who co-chaired the dialogue session with Kerry, said : “We have not allowed Iran to come in the way of our relations with IAEA. We will work to see a peaceful settlement of the issue.”

On the issue of Afghanistan, Kerry said : “we will consult with India and other countries in the region. We are working very closely with (President) Karzai. It should be a Afghan-led process. The Talibans should negotiate with the High Peace Council of Afghanistan. We will maintain a level of force in Afghanistan beyond 2014 and continue to train Afghan forces.”

“We have a forum to discuss the issue bilaterally and also trilaterally. Secretary Kerry has assured me that none of the concerns of India will underestimated,” Khurshid said.

Khurshid also raised the issue immigration with Kerry who assured him that US would consider this issue.

Kerry strongly defended the charges of internet snooping by US. He claimed that “misinformation” was being spread due to lack of understanding. “It is a random survey of (telephone) numbers and not on the content” he said.

He claimed that the survey was designed to tap and track the terrorists. US laws respect the privacy and civil liberties. To work on content permission from relevant authorities needs to be obtained, he said.

Kerry said that an Action Plan of agreed policies and programmes will be implemented.

The 4th India-US Strategic Dialogue discussed various areas of bilateral cooperation including security, trade and investment, science and technology, regional strategic and political issues and global issues, energy, health, education, space, defence, internal security.