lauding India’s record as a “responsible leader”, the United States has said that India has a very important role to play with respect to responsible stewardship of nuclear weapons and nuclear materials.
“India has a long record of being a leader, of being responsible, and it is particularly important right now at a time when we see in the region some choices being made that may accelerate possible arms construction, which we have serious questions about,” Secretary of State John Kerry said after holding a meeting with India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval ahead of the summit.
“We’ve raised them with various partners in the region. So our hope is that this Nuclear Security Summit will contribute to everybody’s understanding about our global responsibilities and choices,” Kerry said.
Remarking that President Obama is “delighted” with Prime Minister Narendra Modi for attending the summit, Kerry hailed India as “a real partner with the United States on a lot of technology, energy issues”.
Doval, in turn, said India attaches considerable value to this “very, very important summit”, adding Prime Minister Modi “is deeply interested in seeing and ensuring that the safety and security of the radioactive material must be ensured”. “We do hope that this cooperation will find a new strength and new height, will get further strengthened and deepened,” Doval said. Speaking of the shared concerns of the two countries on terrorism, he said: “We will be working together on that.”