For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
November 9, 2001
Joint Statement Between U.S. and India
Joint Statement Between the United States of America and the Republic of India
Since September 11, the people of the United States and India have
been united as never before in the fight against
terrorism. In so doing, they have together reaffirmed the
enduring ties between both nations, and the importance of further
transforming the U.S.-India relationship. In their meeting,
President Bush and Prime Minister Vajpayee discussed ways to accelerate
progress towards these goals.
They noted that both countries are targets of terrorism, as seen in
the barbaric attacks on September 11 in the United States and on
October 1 in Kashmir. They agreed that terrorism threatens
not only the security of the United States and India, but also our
efforts to build freedom, democracy and international security and
stability around the world. As leaders of the two largest
multi-cultural democracies, they emphasized that those who equate
terrorism with any religion are as wrong as those who invoke religion
to commit, support or justify terrorist acts.
The two leaders remembered the victims of the many nationalities in
the terrorist attacks on September 11 and agreed that all appropriate
steps should be taken to bring the perpetrators to justice, while
protecting the lives and welfare of the people affected by these
efforts. They noted that both countries are providing
humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan.
They affirmed the current campaign against the Al-Qaida network and
the Taliban in Afghanistan is an important step in a global war against
terrorism and its sponsors everywhere in the world. They
recognized that the international community will have to wage a long
and multi-faceted struggle against terrorism, with patience,
determination and unwavering focus. They emphasized that
there is only one choice and only one outcome: terrorism must be
fought and it shall be defeated.
President Bush and Prime Minister Vajpayee agreed that success in
this endeavor would depend heavily on building international
cooperation and securing the unambiguous commitment of all nations to
share information and intelligence on terrorists and deny them support,
sustenance and safe havens. The two leaders agreed to
consult regularly on the future of Afghanistan. They
welcomed the measures outlined in the UNSCR 1373 and called on all
nations to ratify and implement existing UN Conventions on
counter-terrorism. They expressed support for India's draft
Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism and urged the
resolution of outstanding issues to enable its adoption by the UNGA.
The leaders of the two countries expressed satisfaction with the
progress made in India-U.S. cooperation on counter-terrorism, including
the Joint Working Group on Counter-Terrorism established in January
2000. They reaffirmed their personal commitment, and that of
their two countries, to intensify bilateral cooperation as a critical
element in the global effort against terrorism. They also
announced the establishment of a Joint Cyber-Terrorism Initiative.
Prime Minister Vajpayee and President Bush agreed that developments
in Afghanistan have a direct impact on its entire
neighborhood. They emphasized that the Taliban and the
Al-Qaida network have turned Afghanistan into a center of terrorism,
extremism, and drug trafficking and have brought immense suffering to
the Afghan people. They agreed that a peaceful, progressive,
and prosperous Afghanistan requires a broad-based government,
representing all ethnic and religious groups, friendly with all
countries in the neighborhood and beyond, as well as sizeable and
sustained international assistance for Afghanistan's economic
reconstruction and development. The two leaders committed
themselves to work together, and in partnership with other countries
and international organizations, to achieve these goals.
President Bush and Prime Minister Vajpayee also affirmed their
commitment to complete the process of qualitatively transforming
U.S.-India relations in pursuit of their many common goals in Asia and
beyond. They agreed that U.S.-India relations draw strength
from the broad political support that exits in both
democracies. They expressed satisfaction at the high level
of engagement and progress in bilateral cooperation over the last ten
months. In particular, they reiterated their support for the
wide-ranging bilateral dialogue architecture established in March
2000. The two leaders agreed that recent lifting of economic, military
and technology restrictions on India provides a further impetus to
bilateral relations. They welcomed the resumption of the
bilateral Defense Policy Group as a step towards increasing exchanges
and technical cooperation in the defense and security
areas. They noted that India's interest in purchasing arms
from the United States would be discussed at the Defense Policy Group
meetings in December 2001. The two leaders agreed to pursue
policies to enhance the mutually beneficial -- and growing -- economic
and commercial ties between their nations. They also agreed
to expand the Bilateral Economic Dialogue and to broaden dialogue and
cooperation in the areas of energy, the environment, health, space,
export controls, science and technology, including biotechnology and
information technology. They agreed that the two sides
should discuss ways to stimulate bilateral high technology
commerce. They also agreed that we should begin a dialogue
between the two governments with a view towards evaluating the
processes by which we transfer dual-use and military items, with a view
towards greater transparency and efficiency. In addition,
the United States and India have a mutual interest in space and have
agreed to initiate discussions on civil space cooperation.
The two leaders expressed confidence that enhancing their
cooperation in all these areas will go far towards building a long-term
partnership between the United States and India that will greatly
benefit citizens of both their nations.
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