Welcome to all of you to CSIS for this session with Ambassador Blake. I'm Carl Inderferth, I'm also known to many of you as Rick, and I hold a position here of the Wadwani Chair, recently established Wadwani Chair in U.S.-India Policy Studies, and a senior advisor here at CSIS. I see many familiar faces, so glad that you could be here. We're very fortunate to have Secretary Blake to talk about a subject that is of great interest, certainly to those of us that follow India and those who don't because of the impact that India is playing in the world today. So we're very fortunate to have him here to talk about U.S.-India relations, current issues, and future opportunities. I think that that leaves you with a broad range of things to discuss. A lot of running room. I also want to, by the way, acknowledge the presence of Ambassador Arun Singh from the Indian Embassy. Delighted to have him here. I said to him we might want to get a few comments from him on the election results if you want to be a commentator. They're really interesting results, but we won't put Ambassador Singh on the spot here. But we are going to be talking about current issues and future opportunities. I thought, now, what would those current issues be? Of course, there are a few that you probably come to mind. And there are a number of issues since the very important and successful trip that President Obama took to India in November. I guess this is actually the six-month period since then, so it's good to sort of get together and see what progress is being made. But in terms of current issues, I'm sure you have your list, but I'm sure that probably the first one that you came to hear about is this one that was in India Broad, India Conquers. That is about cricket, the World Cup. Now, I'm assuming that that's going to be the principal topic. Absolutely. That India rules in the world of cricket. There may be a few other issues. I've jotted a few, including, well, the Jet Fighter announcement. The implications have been laden, this demise. WikiLeaks would always be a fun topic. I'm sure Bob would love to talk about that. UN Security Council, the Indian Extension on the Libya Resil- That's a fun topic. And I think that then we can always veer back to talk about cricket. But there are, the point is, obviously, quite a few important topics to discuss here on this very important, about this very important relationship, strategic relationship that we have with India. Nobody better to do that than Ambassador Bob Blake. You all know him. I will give you a few of the highlights of his career as a Foreign Service Officer. Most recently, of course, Deputy Chief of Mission in Delhi. And then Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives. I think you just were there. And, of course, now the Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia and Central Asian Affairs. He's had wide experience at the department. He's served on the seventh floor. I never made it to the seventh floor myself. But I got to the sixth, which is pretty good. But the seventh floor has given him an experience of understanding how that, how the department works. He also has had interesting assignments prior to those that I just mentioned, including serving, I noticed in both Tunisia and Egypt. And I'm thinking that maybe he's the guy that started this Arab Spring. And maybe you planted a few seeds for that when you were a younger Foreign Service Officer. Bob went to Harvard College and received his degree there. And then he got his master's at Johns Hopkins, SICE. So a great career background. And I'm delighted to have him here to talk about the U.S.-India relationship. So with that as an introduction, Bob, why don't you start off and speak for that period that we discussed. And then we will open it up for comments, questions, and a little election results. Well, thank you very much, Rick, for that very kind introduction. When you started talking about cricket, I thought maybe you were going to start to bowl a fastball at me. And maybe those WikiLeaks references and others. We're just going to set the stage. I don't want to encourage the audience too much on WikiLeaks. Also, I will note, Rick said that I served in Tunisia and Egypt. Some of my less charitable colleagues at the State Department take delight in remarking that wherever I go, I seem to leave a trail of destruction in my wake. So hopefully that's not the case with India. I'm really happy to be here to see a lot of old friends. Of course, Ambassador Arun Singh, K.K. Jyotia, many, many other friends around the room. So I want to thank you all for coming for what I think will be an important discussion today. I also want to just congratulate my friend and my predecessor, Rick Interferth, on his success in establishing this Vodwani Chair, which I think is really going to be a terrific addition to the policy community here. And I think Rick has already gotten a fast start in getting out a lot of good papers and so forth on what we're trying to accomplish in India. And we really see CSIS as a real partner here. So I want to congratulate you, Rick, on that. Thanks. I heard that Rick, in the course of these, of course, that he teaches at George Washington on South Asia politics, began each semester with a quotation from one of our great ambassadors in India, Chester Bowles. And Bowles used to note following his return from India in 1969 that engaging with India was in the United States national interest and that India would have a, quote, big impact on the world. And now, 42 years later, I think Bowles' sentiments are really truer than ever. And that's, I think, sort of the focus of my remarks today. You know, as I look out among this crowd today, I see a lot of familiar faces, Indian Americans, government officials, scholars and academics, and all of you have helped in one way or another to advance the extraordinary ties between the United States and India. In fact, many of you, I think, were advocates for the U.S.-India partnership long before that the strong relationship was even possible. There's a common refrain among those of us who have followed U.S.-India relations that, you know, we've made more progress in the last 10 years than anyone would have believed possible. And as Rick said, I myself have been very privileged to be a part of that, first as the DCM out there in 2003 to 2006, and now more recently these last two years as Assistant Secretary. And I've seen firsthand how committed government leaders working hand-in-hand with the business community and buttressed by very strong people-to-people ties can help to transform a bilateral relationship. And I think another really important asset that we have, both in the United States and in India, is the strong, very bipartisan support that we have in both of our countries. And I think that's helped to drive very significant and really uninterrupted progress over the last decade across administrations and across political parties in both countries. And I think the most recent milestone obviously was President Obama's trip in November, which will be remembered as a real watershed when the United States and India embarked on a new level of concrete initiative. To really build a global strategic partnership. And while we've made undeniable strides in our relationship during this very new century, our minds are still fresh with the images of the President's outreach to the business leaders, to the school children in Mumbai, and his historic speech to the Indian Parliament. We shouldn't overlook the influence of some of the dynamic figures of the last century and the real pioneers like Chester Bulls of our fledgling ties. I think back to the legendary letters and journals of diplomats like John Kenneth Galbraith and Daniel Patrick Moynihan, both of whom reflected on India with great admiration to the historic travels across India of First Lady Jackie Kennedy. And I think all of those reflect the fact that Americans for decades have recognized the cultural and strategic symbiosis that our two nations share, even if our nation's politics have over that time period occasionally differed. In fact, I think we, I have with me one of my colleagues who handles a lot of social media for the South Central Asia Bureau. As we think about back on Jackie Kennedy's first trip, that may have been the first demonstration of soft power that Joe Nye and others are often fond of talking about. In the same vein, Indian visionaries like Tagore have admired what the United States has always stood for. He proclaimed that the United States is the best exponent of Western ideals of humanity. And of course, one of the 20th century's most distinguished Americans, Dr. Martin Luther King, found inspiration in Mahatma Gandhi, who he called the guiding light of our technique of nonviolent social change. And of course, the President was very honored to visit Gandhi's home in Mumbai during his visit in November. When we reflect on the arc of U.S.-India relations, I think it's important to remember that our strong ties should be met, should be measured by this long-term perspective and not just today's news cycle. With that longer-term horizon in our sights, we're jointly embarking on areas of cooperation that will, over time, realize enormous benefits for our two people. So I'd like to use my time today to talk a little bit more about how we're creating that architecture today. The pioneers of the values and principles that define our U.S.-India relationship would no doubt have been very pleased by our recent bilateral accomplishments. Beginning with President Clinton's landmark visit in the year 2000, the Civil Nuclear Agreement negotiated by the Bush Administration to the whole of government vision of that partnership that is being articulated by President Obama. I think we've finally crafted a U.S.-India relationship that reflects the ideas that have crossed our oceans for the last 60 years. In November, President Obama's visit resulted in new milestones across virtually every field of human endeavor, from nonproliferation to joint satellite research to food security. Chester Bowles would have been proud, but the U.S.-India story still contains untapped potential and unrealized gains. India is on track to have the largest population on the planet by 2030 and might have the largest economy by 2050. India is a rising giant whose influence is being felt not only in the Indian Ocean, but clear across the Asia Pacific to the shores of the Americas, to Africa, to Middle East, and Central Asia. Its rise, which is fueled by a young, optimistic, dynamic, educated population, may well be the biggest story of the 21st century. And it's that 21st century focus on innovation and on science where we're creating lasting areas of cooperation with India that I think will change our shared futures. India is going to need to maintain or exceed 9% growth in order to provide workforce opportunities for the millions of young Indians who are entering the workforce every year. India's growth trajectory depends on meeting a substantial increased demand for energy resources. India has set an ambitious goal of adding nearly 79,000 megawatts by 2012. Now, diversification is the key to energy security in both of our countries. In addition to our civil nuclear cooperation, the U.S. and India are working together across a full portfolio now of energy options, especially clean solutions. Indeed, energy security is a key pillar of the U.S. national security strategy and a top priority as we seek to transition over time to a clean energy economy and reduce our own dependence on foreign oil. India faces that same challenge, and together we can advance our joint pursuit of a clean energy future paved by extensive bilateral cooperation in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and smart grid technologies. The U.S. and India partnership to advance clean energy, known as PACE, will improve energy access and promote low carbon growth through the research and deployment of clean energy technologies. So as we embark on this collaboration between our public and private sectors, the United States is hosting a smart grid study group this week and a reverse solar trade mission in June. Under our partnership on the Global Shale Gas Initiative, we've started to collect and assess data on unconventional gas resources in India, improving India's access to cleaner fossil fuels from domestic sources. A joint clean energy research and development center that will mobilize up to $100 million in public and private sector funds will buttress the PACE initiative. This new energy research initiative is the most integrated clean energy undertaking we have done with any country ever. And I'm very pleased to note that we will soon be opening the joint call for proposals to support the best new ideas in clean energy innovation. It's worth noting that India plans to significantly increase nuclear energy share in its overall energy basket over the next 25 years and assigned agreements with numerous nuclear supplier countries, including the United States, to reach this goal. India's domestic legal and regulatory framework related to nuclear liability, however, needs to be brought in line with international norms to allow for any international cooperation to be realized. Many supplier states have made this point directly to the Indian government and that we hope that progress will be made during 2011 as India fulfills its pledge to ratify the Convention on Supplementary Compensation and take steps to shore up deficiencies in its initial 2010 liability law. In addition to the joint energy activities, our combined science strengths are making an impact on food security and we're doing that from space. Working with the Indian Ministry of Earth and Sciences, our National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, has developed a cutting edge initiative to forecast monsoons using data that includes satellite imagery. In fact, NOAA has just established a monsoon forecast desk to oversee this exciting activity on the U.S. side. These forecasts will enable India's policymakers and farmers to make accurate decisions about what and when to plant and harvest. India led by Minister Jairum Ramesh played a very important and constructive role at last year's climate negotiations in Cancun, helping bridge differences on some very difficult and important issues. Cancun pledges by countries to reduce emissions, launch the new green climate fund, and create a new mechanism to help promote deployment of clean technologies, reduce deforestation, and help countries to adapt to a changing climate. Without the Indians, Cancun likely would not have been as successful. The United States looks forward to continuing to work with India to focus the negotiations this year on implementing the Cancun agreements, demonstrating that the international community is taking immediate action now to meet the threat of climate change. Cutting across all of these areas, the United States and India have established a new public-private partnership, the Science and Technology Endowment Fund, which will award grants to promising and innovative ideas that could reduce material benefits for both of our countries. The fund will grant two to two and a half million dollars per year to science and technology projects that if successful, we can scale up. The grants will specifically target latter stage research and development geared towards commercializing technologies that can produce high impact bottom of the pyramid innovations. Many of these innovations will focus on the health sector, which will complement the Global Disease and Detection Center that the Center for Disease Control has set up in New Delhi to take advantage of India's first rate health infrastructure to monitor regional and global disease. Let me turn to the security agenda. While our innovation agenda helps us to secure our welfare, we must also work together to ensure that our countries and the neighborhood remain safe and stable. As the world's largest democratic states governed by the rule of law, India and the United States have the greatest stake in upholding the current rules-based international system. We share a common interest in fighting the global terrorist threat of al-Qaeda and its networks and protecting and ensuring free access to our shared domains. For all the logic to our security partnership, however, institutionally it remains relatively modest. We have done extensive bilateral exercises with India, but strategically we still have much to talk about and much to learn from each other, especially at the planning level. We will seek to work with India to encourage greater interaction between our service chiefs and uniform personnel to better understand how our two militaries can work together and to build trust and confidence between our defense establishments. We will emulate the success that we've already had through our East Asia diplomatic and security consultations and extend that model to other critical regions. India has had great success recently thwarting the piracy threat in the Indian Ocean, most recently on May 5th, when it protected the Chinese merchant ship Full City from Somali pirates. We look forward to working with India in similar counter-terrorism, maritime security, humanitarian assistance, and disaster relief activities showing the global benefits of the U.S.-India partnership. Where you will see us really take off this year is in Asia. I'm pleased that our annual U.S.-India Strategic Dialogue that will take place in July is scheduled to take place right before the ASEAN Regional Forum, or ARF, a premier Asian venue for discussion that includes the United States and India as participants. We strongly welcome the recent progress in East Asian and Southeast Asian bilateral relations with India and encourage Udalli to build on these steps, adopting a B-East policy that seeks to expand its market and security integration across the region and enhances India's role in Asian multilateral fora. A B-East policy might entail India seeking an increased role in the East Asia Summit, elevating interaction with ASEAN and developing further political relations with East Asia that match India's vibrant trade and investment growth in the region. And we will continue our highly successful East Asia sub-dialogue, something that I've worked closely on with my colleague Kurt Campbell. The United States is interested in working with India and other members of the East Asia Summit to make it the premier forum for Asia-Pacific leaders to discuss pressing security and strategic issues. It's worth remembering that President Obama has announced that he plans to attend the 2011 East Asia Summit in Indonesia, providing an occasion for the United States and India to deepen our dialogue about security and economic architecture in Asia. Also this summer, we will kick off a United States-India-Japan trilateral dialogue, which will provide a superb opportunity for our three democracies to discuss areas of common interest. As we promote peace and security, there is no more important challenge than that of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery. During President Obama's trip to New Delhi last November, we took several important steps in that regard. First, we signed a memorandum of understanding that allows us to cooperate on nuclear security issues under the auspices of India's Global Center for Nuclear Energy Partnership, which India announced the creation of at the 2010 Nuclear Security Summit here in Washington. Second, the U.S. and India decided to take mutual steps to expand U.S.-India cooperation in civil space, defense, and other high technology sectors. The U.S. indicated its intention to support India's pursuit of full membership in the four multilateral export control regimes, consistent with the core principle of these regimes, as India takes steps towards full adoption of their export control requirements. In addition, we pledged to realign U.S. export control policies to reflect India's status as a strategic partner, and in January we removed India's space and defense entities from the Commerce Department's entities list. I also want to take a moment to note that Prime Minister Singh has also recognized India's enhanced position as a regional leader. His visit to Kabul, which he concluded today, underscored India's strong efforts to support international efforts to rebuild a secure and stable Afghanistan. The Prime Minister raised India's assistance pledge to a total of $2 billion, and India has assisted with critical infrastructure like power stations and the parliament building, as well as agriculture and development projects such as healthcare facilities and wells. Likewise for Pakistan, Prime Minister Singh has spearheaded the initiative to normalize relations. Building on the cricket diplomacy that the two Prime Ministers launched in Mahali, the Commerce Secretaries of the two countries met last month in Islamabad, and jointly announced ambitious commitments to enhance trade and commercial ties. India's economic rise presents an enormous opportunity for Pakistan, and the normalization of economic ties could provide immense benefits to millions of entrepreneurs, farmers, and business people in both countries. More critically, a breakthrough could provide a catalyst for wider regional economic integration, a transformative goal we all wish realized. Let me turn to military modernization and defense sales. The scholar Robert Kaplan has called the rise of India the greatest piece of geopolitical good luck the United States has come across since the end of the Cold War, and he's right. The rise of India is undoubtedly in our national interest, and a strong partnership with India will facilitate the emergence of our shared approach to our collective ideas globally. Charting out its own ambitions for its global role, India has embarked upon a military modernization program and is expected to spend more than $35 billion over the next five years on defense acquisitions. It's a testament to the superiority of American equipment that India continues to look to U.S. suppliers to facilitate this modernization. U.S. firms have won almost $4 billion in defense sales in the past four years, including the transfer of the former U.S. as Trenton to the Indian Navy, the Indian Air Force's purchase of the 6C-130J aircraft, the first of which was delivered on time and under budget in February, and the purchase of eight P-8 long range maritime patrol aircraft. We've done a lot together very quickly, but the relationship is still developing. Both countries have worked to do internally to adjust bureaucratic procedures and mindsets to reflect the current and future U.S.-India relationship. We will continue to look for opportunities to increase understanding of each other's processes, practices, and procedures to enable better cooperation in the future. Of course, it will come as no surprise to those of you who are here today to learn that we in the United States government and many Americans outside of government were deeply disappointed that the Indian Defense Ministry did not include an American firm in its shortlist for its once in a generation fighter jet acquisition, the medium multi-role combat aircraft tender. We see this as a missed opportunity to take the U.S. and India to the next level of strategic cooperation. A U.S. fighter jet would have been a long-term investment in what our defense forces could do together, enabling new levels of technology cooperation and relationship building between our two militaries. The Boeing F-18 and the Lockheed Martin F-16, as configured especially for India, would have included state-of-the-art avionics, engines, and sensor packages that would make them among the most formidable fighters ever deployed, a fact that I think has been made abundantly clear during the past several years. The U.S. offers were very competitive in terms of cost, and our firm's competitiveness and efficiency would have provided reliable support that's second to none. Most importantly, these sales would have provided a ladder to even higher levels of U.S.-India technology transfer. It's a source of puzzlement and disappointment that the Indian Air Force did not see the advantages of the U.S. aircraft. But the U.S.-India friendship is a long-term friendship. It is not a tit-for-tat business arrangement. Sales are a way to facilitate technological and strategic linkages, enabling our armed forces to work together more easily, and we plan to continue strengthening our defense ties through increased sales and exercises. Let me turn to people-to-people. Bolstering our strategic relationship, our people-to-people ties have given the partnership its vitality. During each of the past four years, our consular officers in India issued more than 49 percent of all H-1B visas worldwide, and more than 44 percent of all L-1 intra-company transfer visas worldwide. In the same four-year period, our embassy in New Delhi issued more than double the number of H-1B and L-1 visas than the four next highest issuing countries combined. 650,000 Indians traveled to the United States in 2010, an 18 percent increase over 2009. And, of course, India has historically been one of the largest sources of international students in our colleges and universities, with over 100,000 students coming here to study last year. Mirroring the Indian enthusiasm for the United States, we want more Americans to go to India, and we will work with the Indian government to encourage more tourism, business trips, and exchanges. I particularly hope we can exceed the 2,700 Americans who studied in India last year. The U.S.-India Higher Education Summit this fall in Washington, D.C. will bring hundreds of educational institutes together from both of our countries, and could foster linkages that ease the ability of American students to participate in India's venerable educational system, while further extending the number of Indians studying in the United States, and bringing higher education institutional ties between our countries to a new level. As evidence of the democratic values that we share in both of our government's reliance on active civic engagement, we've embarked on an unprecedented initiative in open government and democracy promotion. India's success as a thriving democracy has served as a demonstration effect for its neighborhood. Since 2008, an elected government serves in every country in South Asia for the first time. Now India is ready to share its recipe beyond its immediate neighborhood. Most recently, Egypt and India partnered bilaterally to use both Indian expertise and technology for Egypt's upcoming elections. At a broader level, India's Election Commission established the Indian Institute of Democracy and Election Management in New Delhi to serve as a prime resource center for information and election training. The Indian Election Commission and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems soon hoped to partner to develop an internationally tailored curriculum to share India's best practices in election management. Turning to the growth agenda, the health of our commercial relationship presents yet another aspect of our strong people-to-people ties. Trade between the United States and India has doubled twice in the past 10 years and continues to grow and drive our partnership. There isn't a multinational company today without an India strategy. Behind the scenes, our governments and businesses work piece by piece, deal by deal, to build relationships and foster trade. Yet economic impediments make it hard for American exporters to gain access to Indian markets, especially in agricultural goods. Restrictions in retail, insurance, defense and other key areas have also limited the expansion of American firms and the Indian firms with whom they seek to partner. India and the U.S. have the potential to be each other's largest trade and investment partners, demonstrating significant, balanced benefits for both economies and peoples. This is a long-term goal for which we've already taken significant strides. To maintain this trajectory, we need to methodically address trade and investment barriers and foster market openings that position us to capitalize on this continued growth and allow our private sectors to thrive. As one of the steps forward in the near term, we hope to sign a significant bilateral aviation safety agreement that will help open the door to cooperation between our civilian aviation authorities. This agreement further builds on our already strong aviation relationship anchored by our 2005 Open Skies Agreement. We also stand ready to work with India as it modernizes its aviation infrastructure. We also want to explore how to re-energize bilateral investment treaty discussions, which would provide investment protections to strengthen the ability of our companies to cooperate more effectively in both markets. Recognizing India's tremendous economic growth and the fantastic potential for U.S. investors, U.S. companies need to be in India and American businesses have been some of India's boosters. But with India's ranking of 134 out of 183 on the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business Index, this clearly can sometimes be a challenge. A bit with India would help lower the risk of investing by establishing safeguards and an independent arbitration process that would provide our investors maximum protection. A bit would also protect growing Indian investment in the United States. The total stock of FDI from India to the United States was almost $5.5 billion at the end of 2009, growing at approximately 35 percent between 2005 and 2009, and making India the seventh fastest growing source of FDI into the United States. For the record, Indian companies are invested in, operating in, and creating jobs in 40 states and the District of Columbia, and we welcome more. In addition to its contribution to the U.S. economy, India's economic growth has lifted millions out of poverty and hunger at home. As India's economic reform proceeds, in the future, I have no doubt it will expand the space for greater U.S. trade and investment. We are natural economic partners. In fact, we are now extending our economic partnership to benefit third countries. For the first time in our history, the United States and India have jointly approached three African countries with a proposal to collaborate on building agricultural capacity. As a result, India has become an integral part of the President's Feed the Future initiative, which has taken on greater importance with the possible return of higher global food prices. In conclusion, the joint activities that I have described point to a long-term vision of using the U.S.-India partnership to produce benefits for both our countries as well as the citizens around the world. Our strategic relationship will make the world more secure and democratic, while our commercial partnerships will produce novel products that meet the needs of the 21st century consumer. Our joint research and development in space, health, and agriculture will lift the welfare of millions. As partners, we must discuss and debate how we can further strengthen our unique bilateral relationship, while actively helping other nations around the globe achieve peace, prosperity, openness, and stability. We owe the pioneers of U.S.-India relations to think bid, to look ahead, and to aim higher than ever before. Tectonic shifts in international relations never wait for moments most convenient for global actors. The global strategic partnership between the United States and India is strong and is founded on shared values and exceptional people-to-people ties. But we must remember that this is a long-term project. Neither country can take their relationship for granted. And right now we need to work together to ensure that the initiatives launched during the President's visit are implemented, as this will build the political support in Washington and Delhi, as well as Mumbai and Manhattan, to think more ambitiously about what we can achieve and where our partnership can go. As Tagore, the great Bengali son and hero to all of India once said, You can't cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water. My friends, our people, our businesses are diverse, and our intertwined, knowledge-based societies will support the next chapter of the U.S.-India partnership. The time is now to turn our imaginations, both here in the United States and in India, into reality. And in that regard, all of your counsel will be critical. So again, I want to thank Rick and his colleagues for inviting me here today, and I hope that my remarks provide some food for discussion. Thanks again. Bob, thank you very, very much. A great presentation. I think that this is a speech that Jester Bowles wished he could have made and never had the opportunity to. Had he just lived a bit longer, he would have seen that relationship that he said would be so important for us. I think that the areas, the comprehensiveness of the relationship, the areas that are covered, actually plays very much into what we see as our working slogan here at CSIS and the Wadwani Chair, which is to unlock the full potential of the U.S.-India relationship. And clearly that's exactly what the U.S. government and what you've described were doing. We're opening doors. We're going into areas of our bilateral relationship that have not been pursued before. And we're doing it across the board. It's not just government to government, but it's private sector to private sector. It's people to people. So much to do, so much potential. And thank you for setting the scene. Thank you. What I'd like to do now is to open this up to your comments and questions. And we have mics around the table. And what I'd like you to do, since many of us know many in the room, but let's just introduce yourself and where you are, your affiliation, if you would like. And then we will proceed to questions. Okay. Wolf, do you want to start? Wolf Gross, probably the only one in the room who worked for Chester Bowles. Bob, you highlighted, and I think adequately and accurately characterized the disappointment that those of us in the defense industry felt at having been aced out of the MMRCA competition. But what it highlighted to some of us was the comments that we still get about the U.S. withholding its best technologies. I had one gentleman who is extremely well connected with an Indian, major Indian political party, which I will not name, who said it was all flim flam the U.S. never intended to provide the best technologies on either the F-16 or the F-18. I know otherwise you do too, but it's still a pervasive concern. A very senior former naval person sent me an email which contrasted the Russians providing a brand new, in quotation marks, nuclear submarine with the U.S. having provided a 44-year-old about-to-be-scrapped LPD a couple of years ago as a comparison. And I'd like to hear your views on these concerns. Well, thank you for that important question. I just want to say that I think our two companies, both Lockheed Martin and Boeing, and their products were highly competitive, certainly in cost, but also in technology. I think, for example, I don't want to get too much into the details of the technology because, you know, first of all, I'm not an expert in this and the companies themselves and speak for themselves. But on things like the AESA radar that we were prepared to provide, those are things that were not available on some of the other competitors' platforms. So, again, I think that both of our bids could stand very proudly on both on cost and on technology with any of the other that was in the competition. Now, that said, I think we've said before that this appears to have been a very straightforward decision that was made by the Indian government. We have seen no evidence of any kind of corruption or anything like that. And so I think our companies are prepared to move on now and see a number of other opportunities that are still out there. I talked in my speech about the $35 billion of contracts over the next five years. So there will be many other opportunities for the United States and India to cooperate. Of course, we're disappointed about this sale. But again, I want to try to focus also on the long term and the opportunity still before us. Other questions on this topic, if we could sort of keep to that. Is that answered everybody's question about Merca? That's it. Please. Well, first of all, I introduce myself. I'm Krishna Jajodya, Chairman of Assam Company and Group of Associated Companies. I've been fortunately been International Councilor of CSIS for now nearly 20 years. And not that I'm making a point. I'm the only one from India. Number two, I must congratulate Ambassador Blake because having seen him in action at DCH in India and living in Delhi and being fairly around, I would only say he's the one unique person who was at the center of activity when Bush came to India. And he is the person again when Obama came to India. It's a unique that the perception that he had of what was left behind and what had to be done in the next round, the same person was behind the scene. And secondly, as regards as defense equipment is concerned, I think there is a definite need of giving an open card sheet to the companies. But primarily I would like the companies to be more forceful. We don't see their presence. They come there for visits and make presentations and disappear. If they want to consider India as a strategic market, they must invest their time and also the opportunity to do something more. I will not take much of your time as I would say that both the famous diplomats, one from the Bill Clinton time, one with the Mr. Bush time and one with now Obama's time, I would say we are singularly benefited. And I have attended many meetings on China, on the share from China, also from Japan, and said to myself what a good study they have made and they bring out books and study and provoke questions. So this attempt that has been made by CSI is most extraordinary. Thank you. Actually, if you would like to continue on that thing, I think Bob and I both thoroughly enjoyed what you were doing. Actually, you know what, we will go to other questions. Let me just say, thank you KK for your very kind comments, which as usual overstate my role and understate the thousands of other people who have been working on the progress in our relations. But on a serious note, with respect to your comment about our companies, I think both Boeing and Lockheed Martin would tell you that they are committed to their own long-term strategic partnerships with India and have a huge range of activities underway in India. So they are both very much present and both very much focused on the future. Ray, on this subject, let me just make one comment because something Bob said about our two countries trying to better understand the internal processes. You mentioned about the need to better understand the process, the procedures, and the practices of our bureaucracies. That is something Amir Latif who is here as a visiting fellow from DOD working with us is going to undertake a working group study of how the two countries approach each other. Because I think that we still, although we are so much more in sync than we have ever been, gears still grind on these kinds of issues. And we need to sit down, not in an open session, but to have that kind of discussion. So we are going to try to help on that process over the next number of months both here and in Delhi to look at that. So, Ray? Yes, thank you. Ray Vickery from Albright's Dome Bridge. Bob, I think we would all agree those of us who have been involved or followed for a long time that the glass is more than half full and that we have a lot to be thankful for in regard to the U.S.-India relationship. On the other hand, it seems like, you know, if you read off issues, whether they be caps on investment, admission to agricultural markets, civil nuclear, you could have the same discussion today that you could have had years ago. And it seems that we really have not, since the 90s, been able to make breakthroughs. And I wonder what your assessment of the reason for that. And I guess I'm also wondering whether you think that the left's difficulties in the recent elections will have some impact in terms of being able to make breakthroughs on questions that are very much political. Well, it's probably a question more from my friend Arun Singh that is for me. But I'll take him off the hook. I would say that, first of all, I think that the people inside India and world-renowned economists like Prime Minister Manmohan Singh do very well what needs to be done. They have a very good understanding of the steps that need to be taken. I think often the politics of this can be very hard of economic reform. So we're, as you said, we continue to urge what's called the next generation of reforms in India that would open up things like retail and defense and others to greater investment. And we think that that would be of great benefit to India and to the United States. But that's a judgment that India has to make. And we've received some indications that there may be some progress in some of these areas over the coming six months now that this most recent round of elections is behind them. The elections, particularly in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu and places like that. So we'll just have to see. And this is a sovereign decision to be made by our Indian friends. But this is something that is going to benefit them, not going to benefit the United States. And so I think it's very important to put it in those terms. And the less said, by people like me, the better. Because, again, it's much better for them to do this for their own reasons and to explain to their public that this is something that's going to serve their interests. So really, thank you for your remarks. My name is Cap Sharma. I have a quick question. I really appreciated the progressive nature of your remarks. And it's very forward thinking. But my concern is not actually the administration but your colleagues in Congress. And whether Congress, with all these new members of Congress, share the same view of India as you do. The way that Congress now is approaching foreign policy through budget cuts, playing a more active role with a lot of new members. You have the Tea Party members and next year you're going to have a whole new set of members of Congress. Whether they share the same viewpoints as you do. And what role will Congress play? Now, I love people-to-people, I guess, movement. But when Congress puts caps on H-1Bs, it makes L-1s difficult, blaming India for outsourcing. And when I watch and I read what members of Congress are saying about India with regards to climate control, climate change, and blaming China and India for all the climate change problems out there. And then, you know, threatening to put BTAs, border tariffs on products that come from India because of climate change. What is your view about Congress? What role Congress will play? And how are you educating them about the importance of the relationship? So that way, there is some kind of symmetry in all of this. Cap, are you trying to get me fired? Well, Congress is making life quite difficult, too. The Executive Branch, Congress, remember there. Let me state for the record, the Executive Branch has the highest regard for the U.S. Congress. No, in all seriousness, I spent a lot of time in front of Congress talking about India and about my entire region. And I actually would say that there is very broad appreciation for India. I mean, I would point to things like the India caucus, which is the largest of all the caucuses on the Hill.  I would say that Congressional concerns are focused on things like India's policy in Iran, where again, I think there's a relatively good story to tell. I think they're focused on things like India's, what kind of role they might be playing in the U.N. Those are the kind of questions I get on the Hill. But I think there's broad appreciation for the strategic importance of India and for the partnership that we've developed. And I must say I'm very happy that Ambassador Inderforth and his colleagues are going to be hosting an event fairly soon with the India caucus heads, because I think that's a very important part of the dialogue. So I don't, you know, I would, most of the questions that I get from Congress are not so much about India, but more about Pakistan and sort of where is that all going? And so I'm really struck that when I go up to testify about South and Central Asia, I rarely get the chance to talk about South and Central Asia. It's almost about things outside of my own area of responsibility, because that's where they're focused. Okay. Let me just mention, as coming attractions, Ambassador Blake just referred to this, you'll be receiving shortly an invitation. We are having an event co-sponsored with the Senate India Caucus on June 9th. Senators Warner and Cornyne will be the keynote speakers. We'll have further discussion. Ambassador Shankar has accepted our invitation to come and take part in that event, as has Ambassador Blake. So we will have a chance to travel up to Capitol Hill and we will join those issues then, because I do believe that both the Senate and the House, India caucuses, which are very important developments and a reflection of how important this relationship has become to the United States, could get more engaged in tackling and actually quite frankly pushing back on some of these issues and misconceptions. So I think Congress has a very important role to play and I too highly respect the role they play. Even though I'm no longer an official, I want to make sure that that is also understood. Seema, do you have a microphone? Seema Sirohi, I'm an Indian journalist with the Bengal Post and I contribute to I think Tank in Bombay as well. I was wondering if I could go back to the decision made by India on the aircraft deal. You said that it was of course a source of deep disappointment and puzzlement. So I'm sure you've sat and thought about it and analyzed what went into that decision. One very prominent US analyst has said that India chose a plane and not a partnership. Would you agree with that? Would you agree with some analysis that has come out of India that India was merely hedging its bets? That India had given a few contracts to the US. It was time to give Europe something and spread the bets. And lastly, do you think the US policy towards Pakistan and Pakistan having the same planes might have played a role in that? You know, I have to say Seema, first of all, we haven't had sufficiently detailed discussions with our Indian friends about all this yet to be able to provide a cogent response to that. And really it's up to, it's more for India which made this decision to respond to your questions about this. It's not very productive for me to speculate on all those questions that you just made. So I'm going to respectfully dodge your question. Please. My honor. Ernie Prig of Manufacturers Alliance, and I'm delighted to be here today. Nice to see you. I had 25 years in our foreign service, although I was with Bob Blake the elder on that generation. This is a second generation of. I also spent 10 years at CSIS as a shoal chair in international business. So I know this room pretty well. But now, Manufacturers Alliance, we're not a lobbyist like NAM. We're essentially a think tank for issues of interest in manufacturing sector. We have over 500 corporate members, and I can support your view that each one of them has a big interest in a strategy for India. And in fact, our trade has been growing very rapidly in recent years. About 85% of merchandise trade in both directions as manufacturers. And it's been growing quite rapidly as I say, but always the but. We still have a relatively small share of the Indian market. And regrettably, it's been a declining share, particularly in high tech industries. China's been coming on strong now. Indian imports. Manufacturers from China twice from the US level. The EU is two and a half times and other East Asians, Japan, South Korea, Singapore. They're rising much faster, which raises some questions. And the big question, of course, is that in recent years, India has negotiated comprehensive free trade investment agreements. Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia about to conclude with the EU. I don't know if there's an airline connection with that one. But also then negotiating Canada, Australia, Indonesia, Thailand. And this sets up an adverse competitive disadvantage for US exports. And this is deeply felt. So all this leads to the obvious question, why should we not have an FTA with India? I've talked to senior, I've been involved in India in the last few years. Senior Indian officials that say, well, we're disposed to it, but the US isn't essentially. So the question is, why not in a way? And I should just say a little self-promotion. I just came out with a Manufacturers Alliance report, which says the growing US interest in a free trade agreement with India. A lot of trade analysis and some specific suggestions, recommendations at the end beginning. The US, the Indian approach to FTAs has been two stage. First you have a joint group to do a feasibility study, cost-benefit analysis, six or eight months. And that's a basis for the, want to go ahead with negotiations, formal negotiation. So my suggestion to conclude here is, as I suggest in the report, is that for our next ministerial dialogue, the high-level meeting started here last year in Delhi, I believe in July, that we should set up such a joint commission to just do the cost-benefit analysis. Is it our mutual interest? And then we could leave for later a decision, do we want to start formal negotiation? So that's where I am, and I'll just close with throwing back one of your classic quotes from Indian literature. I'm not as good at it, but in this new Indian free trade trading world, we seem to be, quote, standing and staring at the water, unquote. That's going to form a naval person, too, incidentally. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Well, thank you. And I, you know, let me just say, to start with it, we'd appreciate your own analysis of this. And because it's, yeah, so I look forward to seeing that because it's important for, you know, for our policymakers to hear the views of important groups like your own. And this is, and I would just say that we hope to use the upcoming strategic dialogue and we'll lead the U.S. delegation for to Delhi in July to have a discussion about, you know, where do we take our economic partnership forward and how do we take it forward? And I mentioned in my speech that we're giving great consideration now to, you know, re-energizing our bilateral investment treaty discussions. And the bigger question, as you point out, is do we want to pursue an FDA or not? And that's something that people within the administration have been wrestling with. And it's complicated by some of the politics here, too, you know, in an election year and so forth, embarking on a lot of big new free trade negotiations can be challenging sometimes. So this is something where we're going to, there's going to have to be quite a lot of work done. But it's very important that people hear from the business community about their interests and such a thing. So I think your report here will be helpful. It has gone out to a partner member. Just last Friday would point out. We will be hearing back. Okay. Thank you. Ernie, could you actually hand me that other one that you... I have a few with me. Well, I just... I'll thank you, but if anybody gives me the e-mail address, you will receive one electronically. I passed this to Ambassador Blake, but I think I should also pass it to Ambassador Roon Singh because if there is to be an agreement, it's a two-party agreement. Indian Embassy requested a copy. Good. On that issue of business opportunities, you recently appeared at the Wharton, India Economic Forum, and I read through that last night about your comments. I'd like to pick up on something that you said here. First, a comment that you made, which is you said, we in the government, you said, we are in the business of creating the environment for these deals to take place, not to actually conclude them ourselves. And then you said, the point is now that the private sector has eclipsed what the government is doing, and that's a good thing. That's exactly what we'd like to see happen. And I think that's a fundamentally important point because in government, you can help open doors, you can set the stage, but you've got to turn it over to the vast majority of people who are in the private sector and the people to people. So I think that's fundamentally important understanding of the role of government. And what I said just to finish on that is that we have a huge range of bilateral dialogues on the economic front. The one that's coming up the soonest will be the high technology cooperation group where we meet every single time to vary how we can, what we can do to help reduce barriers to greater high technology trade between our two countries. And all of those are informed by the private sector so that we make sure that we have meetings ahead of time so that they can really tell us what needs to be done. And that's why we have a CEO forum. That's why we have a number of other mechanisms to make sure that we are in fact taking steps to facilitate trade and investment. Let me focus on two of those areas that you referred to here. You had a really interesting factoid. You said 80% of the India of 2030 is yet to be built. Right. 80% of the India of 2030 is yet to be built so there are going to be vast opportunities in areas such as the development of airports, railroad networks, fiber optic networks, the whole infrastructure. And then you said, I think there will also be tremendous new startup opportunities which will come as a result of new educational partnerships. Can you just address both the infrastructure, how we, the U.S. can get more involved in both the infrastructure and the educational? You referred a bit a moment ago to higher education in the summit in June. But two very important areas. Well, again, these are both areas that I think we're going to talk about when we go out in July. But as Rick mentioned, there are going to be gigantic, there already are, gigantic opportunities for infrastructure development in India. And this is something that Arun Singh and Ambassador Shankar have been speaking out regularly about here in the United States as well to try to publicize the opportunities for American companies. So we're looking very closely with the Department of Commerce at how do we can capitalize on those and encourage American companies to go and see what those opportunities are and to hopefully bid on some of them. So that's going to, again, I think it's going to be a huge area of expansion and opportunity for American companies. The other one is education where, again, this is a strategic opportunity for India right now. India has one of the, you know, half of its population is still under the age of 26. It's got very large numbers of young Indians who will be entering the workforce. And Kapil Sibyl, who is the Minister of Human Resources and Development, has spoken very articulately about how it will be very, very important to ensure that all of those young Indians have the opportunity to get particularly higher education opportunities that they do not now have and that he sees the partnership with the United States as one of the major new ways of offering those opportunities. Not just for Indian students to come here to the United States, which we certainly welcome, but also increasingly to find ways to help American universities to establish greater partnerships in India itself. And so we're going to have this summit now in the fall. We'd actually hoped to have it earlier, but it's just been difficult finding times when all of our various senior people can be together in one room, in one place in Delhi or in the United States. So we'll have it in the fall. And again, I think it'll be a terrific opportunity, mostly to bring together our higher education leaders from around the country, our university leaders, to again give us advice, to give both governments advice about how we can work together and see some of these great opportunities. Yes, let's go back. Claudio, you can get a microphone right behind. Claudio Lillienfeld, thanks so much. It's been very interesting and hearing some of the commentary. Being on the outside and listening to what's going on, and also we've been talking to some of my government counterparts, both in India and the U.S. There's notwithstanding all the good that's happened and the fact that we are in a place today that 10 years ago we could barely have imagined in terms of the growth of trade, the types of activities on the defense front that are going on, and yet there's a funk that's settled in. And some really deep questions are being asked about notwithstanding the good dialogues that are going on, the frustrations about realizing the fruits of those dialogues, and that they're starting to sound like so much talk, and I think Ray and others have cited concerns from both sides that exist about how committed at the top levels folks are to sort of setting the stage and guiding the politics in both countries in the right directions.  But I think going forward to the strategic dialogue this summer, it's a request from the outside and I may be arrogant to represent more than just myself in this, but I've talked to enough folks to realize that it would be really important to find some way to deliver a message that conveys to both populations and political classes and chattering classes how these ambivalences are going to be overcome, the things that manifest themselves in sort of the policy areas that aren't resolved on a recurring basis for both sides. Well, I'm always struck that the U.S.-India relationship seems to be uniquely, there's always a demand for greater and greater and greater progress, and we've just come from the President having a highly, highly successful visit where we really achieve some huge breakthroughs on things like the entity's list and many, many other things, and have embarked for the first time on this really truly global strategic partnership. So I think our task is first to, as I said in my speech, to implement what we've already agreed to, which is already quite a significant change in our relations. But then it's also, when we look ahead to July, to sort of chart a way forward, and as I said, I think that's where we need all of your help and advice, but I think certainly from our perspective there's a great deal more to be done on the economic side as we've already discussed. We need to think ahead about, again, the defense partnership and how we can, again, reestablish momentum in that area, and we need to continue to just do everything that we can to make sure that we're promoting this innovation agenda that I talked about, because I think if there's anything that distinguishes our partnership from others, it's that. It's the fact that we have these two open societies, market economies and democracies, and well-developed educational institutions of all kinds that provide just a unique opportunity that we don't have with any other country in the world to really forge this innovation partnership that I talked about. And so most of what, most of that takes place in the business world, and it takes place in, that is really not going to be that visible to the outside world, but yet the role that we can play to sort of catalyze that I think is extremely important, and that's why we spend a lot of our time thinking about science and technology and clean energy research and development and all these other things, because I think that you, even though it may take a while to kind of get all those going, but once they do, there will be a really quite important momentum, and I think we've put in place now the building blocks for that that is going to really begin to show some quite interesting returns on. I think the comment that Claudio made is one that I've also heard, and I think that part of that can be explained by the fact that we have a, what have you done for me lately, syndrome working here, and almost being a victim of the relationship's own successes for some time. But I do think that the whole question of making sure that it gets re-energized, and perhaps the conclusion of these state elections in India will give the government a chance to inject some new initiatives and the rest energy into that. But I think it's, and of course we're moving into an election cycle, which of course, I mean that is the nature of our democracies. So we have to be tending to our domestic compulsions. So, yes. My name is Amitabh Khosh. I'm from NASA, the Mars mission. So I had a couple of questions. I'm sorry, the Mars exploration rover mission. Let's go. Couple of questions. So, one is higher education is really a huge opportunity for the US. So, as you mentioned, demographically very young, they like the US education system. So what are the perceived roadblocks? Is it the absence of a legal structure which Kapil Sibal is working on? Is it something else? Because in India, the HRD, Human Resources Development Ministry, has indicated that the government cannot provide for the higher education leads of millions and millions of young Indians. So this would have been a perfect place. And there is no technology control regime. You're just supplying curriculum and Harvard could be involved. And you hear of the news of the presidents of Cornell and Harvard making visits, meeting rather than data. But nothing ever happens after that. So what are the perceived roadblocks? There must be. Well, I think, first of all, I think our universities are very much aware of the opportunities. As you say, there's a never ending stream of very senior level university leaders going out to look at these opportunities. I would say, first of all, they are establishing various partnerships. But you're right that there haven't been major investments. There have been some, but not enough. And partly, I think people are waiting to see about the education bill. That has been promised for some time. But I think it's been delayed because of the various corruption scandals inside India. And so the Indian parliament hasn't been able to take a look at that yet. And so people are quite reluctant to kind of make major new investments until they know exactly what the parameters of those investments are going to be. But one thing that we do say to all of our friends in the university sector is that there are still many, many opportunities at the state level in India to move ahead. And there's some quite good examples in Hyderabad, for example, where Wharton and others have made some very important investments and have been very successful. So I think there are many good models already to choose from. And so I think we hope to be able to use this summit that I talked about in the fall to, first of all, allow India to explain what the opportunities are and what the various legal and other parameters will be and then also to publicize what those, to really have a sincere and detailed discussion about that so that, in fact, we can catalyze new investment in that area. And so that's broadly what we seek to do. John Schlauser. Bob, I didn't want to let go unremarked your ringing endorsement of India following through on its commitment to ratify the Nuclear Liability Convention. And just wondering, I mean, this is the classic example of completing something that we've undertaken. And obviously there's a need for pause and review. I believe the Indian government is undertaking a review of the safety of its own nuclear plants. It's existing nuclear plants. But my question is, do you see this as featuring in the strategic dialogue, as it did during the visit of President Obama? And since the Obama administration, like the Indian government, has said that it is not abandoning nuclear power, I just wondered if you had any comments on the future of our cooperation in this area? Yeah, I'm sure it will come up because it's such an important priority for both of our countries, for India to, again, to find ways to meet its rapidly growing energy demands. And for the United States, it's an enormous commercial opportunity for our companies. So this will continue to be a very high priority for our countries. And I'm sure we will discuss it. Let me just say on the CSC that we haven't heard from the Indians that they do not remain committed to what they promised in November. And as you say, every country around the world is looking at the nuclear industry and sort of the way forward here in light of what happened in Japan. And that's absolutely right. Everybody should do that. And that's quite appropriate. But as far as we know, our own partnership remains on track. But I'm sure this will be, again, an important subject of discussion in July just to reaffirm that. Thank you. Is there something really? Sure. There is actually a meeting in IAEA in June where they're going to be discussing sort of general state of liability regimes around the world. India has been invited to the meeting. As of last week, they have not yet indicated whether they will accept that invitation, but, nevertheless, India has been invited to the meeting as a speaker. And if you want more details, Bob, I'll send it to you. Great. Thank you. Thank you. Bob, can I widen the lens for a moment to address you who talked about India and a B East policy? Yeah. Could you talk for a moment? You also mentioned that you and Kurt Campbell have collaborated clearly. The India-China connection is a very important one. Still questions about how to sort of manage this triangular relationship. You also recently had the BRICS meeting where they talk about a new monetary, global monetary policy and people are getting a little nervous. What does that mean? What is India's role in that? Could you just talk for a moment about that kind of set of issues relating to principally Indian China? I saw that President Obama spoke to Prime Minister Singh. Coincidentally, maybe or not, at the same time as the U.S.-China summit was taking place, maybe making sure that India was not feeling left out of being informed about what we were doing with the other Asian giant. Could you just sort of talk a little bit about that? I guess I would answer the question first by saying that the focus of President Obama's trip in November was really to show the increasing importance of Asia to the United States and particularly to show that he was going to be visiting the four most important democracies in Asia, starting with India and then Indonesia, Japan and Korea. I think it was very clearly intended to start the trip in India and sort of embed it in this wider Asian vision. India itself has had this look east policy for a long time, as you know, and has very important interests in not just trade interests, but strategic interests in Southeast Asia and well beyond there. We want to encourage that. I mean, we think it's very much in our interest to have India be a greater part of the Asian architecture and things like the East Asia summit and other things. And as I say, the logic has extended to the Secretary's own trip where she'll go directly from India to the ASEAN Regional Forum meetings. We started this, we will start for the first time this trilateral dialogue with Japan, which I think makes great sense. And we want to think more broadly too about, for example, how we can work more together in the Indian Ocean. We have extraordinary common interests in protecting the sea lanes and maritime security and encountering piracy. And many, many other kind of joint interests in those areas. And so it makes great sense for us to have a much more concerted dialogue on these issues. And that's frankly why I think the East Asia dialogue that Kurt Campbell chairs has been such a success. But we want to now try to emulate that and try to build that in the new areas, Central Asia that I'm responsible for, the Middle East, and even Africa where we're beginning to cooperate together on these things. So, but I, again, I think Asia is a particular focus for us right now. And one that we, where we see there's so many common interests between the United States and India and where we have a great interest in furthering our dialogue with these other important countries like Japan and Korea and Indonesia. And of course we both want good relations with China. And I think we both make every effort to explain that our advancing partnership does not come at the expense of our relations with China, which are extremely important. As you said, the President talked with Prime Minister Singh. That was mostly to talk about Osama bin Laden. But it was, it's also a useful opportunity to have several other conversations. So. What did you say about Osama bin Laden? Well. Okay. They welcomed it. Do you think that we'll ever reach a point that we could have a trilateral U.S.-China-India trilateral? That's ambitious. I don't know. We'll have to see. I mean, let's start first with these other countries and then we can see about that. Okay. I think we'll have a final question, please. Are you pointing to me? Yes, I am. I have a visual disability and it's hard for me to see. Oh, that's fine. My name is Kay Cannon. I'm recently with Northrop Grumman after 38 years in the Department of Defense. Mr. Secretary, thank you. I'd like to take up on your remarks about modest steps made towards establishing a mature and ongoing defense relationship and your remarks about the need to reestablish momentum in that relationship. Could you share your views on what might be on the table or under consideration to remove, to reform, to loosen restrictions on transfer of certain advanced defense technologies such as C4ISR that can be used to counter piracy in the Indian Ocean? And specifically, example would be the missile technology control regime that certainly make it more difficult if not preclude transfer of important technologies to a strategic global partner like India. Well, let me answer that in two ways. First, by saying that I think one of the reasons that we were disappointed with the results of the downselective RCA was that we did see this as a strategic opportunity to really take our defense partnership to the next level and to, again, not only share advanced technology, but also to begin to think about, in a concrete way, about things like co-production and co-develop. So, again, there will be other opportunities, but that was a missed opportunity in that respect. In terms of technology, I think there's been a large amount of progress over the last several years. It thanks largely to this high technology cooperation group that I talked about, but particularly highlighted during the President's visit where, again, both DRDO and ISRO were taken off the entity's list. And I think reflects, again, our growing confidence in India and our sense that we should be looking seriously at sharing more technology and more high technology with India and that it's in our interest to do this and that this will bolster our exports and that also reflects our confidence in India's own strengthened export control system. So, and that's, again, why the President has supported India's membership in these four regimes and over time along the parameters that I discussed. So I think the overall trend is very positive and I think we will take all of these, you mentioned one particular sale, we'll take them all on a case-by-case basis and we'll look at them according to the merits, but I think that India is, the trend is good and will continue to be so. Good. Ambassador Singh, do you want to say anything if you would like to? The floor will be yours for a final comment. Ambassador Singh, now correct the record for all things. I was very keen to avoid saying anything. The invitation is yours to accept or reject. I wanted to say that I think it reflects the nature of our strategic partnership, that except for a couple of paragraphs and especially on one set of issues, I could have said the same things and given Bob the exact same draft of his speech. Thank you. I also want to say one thing, I think this is the first time I've ever been to a meeting on India where I have not been asked a question about Pakistan, which is quite a good sign. Nor, by the way, did anybody say WikiLeaks, so we're going to accept me, but I didn't ask it. Anyway, let me have a couple of concluding comments very quickly because it is 12.30. First of all, you do have a couple of handouts outside. We've been talking a lot about the jet fighter deal. Amir Latif and I have written on that. There's a piece in the Wall Street Journal that appeared yesterday which says, the long view of Indo-U.S. ties, one failed arms sale between New Delhi and Washington doesn't make or break a promising relationship. That's the short message. Please look at that. We also have a copy of our latest newsletter. And I would also like to express appreciation to one of our camera persons. Arthi Dhar has been a research intern here. This is her last official responsibility. And next week at this time, she'll be on a houseboat on Dal Lake in Kashmir. And I wish we could all be joining you. So, but thank you, Arthi Dhar, that you have done. And I would like to give a little bit of a small, small, small token of appreciation to my colleague and friend Bob Blake for his appearance. It is a lapel pin. I said it small, but very significant. It is a lapel pin of our new building, which yesterday we had the groundbreaking for CSIS. It will be a Thomas Circle, the last remaining empty space in downtown Washington. But it's a lapel pin. I'd like to give that to you as a further invitation. Now it's 2013. We want you back before then, before then. In fact, we'll see you on June 9th. But it is a significant moment in the history of CSIS that our new building ground is being broken, almost even as we speak. So with all that, I'd like to express again appreciation to Secretary Blake. And thank you very much for being here.


Loneliness is a big issue that we may all confront at one point in our life or the other. It is also very widespread in Western countries. According to the Joe Cox Commission on Loneliness of the UK Parliament, over 9 billion British adults reported being often or always lonely. There is even now a Minister of Loneliness in the UK. How about your country? Why is loneliness so bad? According to Healthline, a 2017 review of 40 studies on social isolation and loneliness found evidence to link the states to a higher risk of early death, cardiovascular issues and increased risk of chronic illness, high cholesterol, emotional distress, diabetes and depression. Loneliness is also different from being alone. People who are alone at the moment choose to be alone. Lonely people want to be with others but feel isolated. In this video, I am going to share with you the 10 signs that show that you are lonely. 1. Lack of appetite. When you are lonely, you are likely not going to have an appetite for food. Your mind will be too preoccupied with the thoughts of loneliness. That is why this is so dangerous. It can make you lose focus on the present and worry too much over the past. Trying to figure things out can be frustrating.   Was it your fault you live in a terrible apartment and earn very low wages? Does it really matter? What will the answer do for you? Not give you happiness, I am sure. Why not let the past just be in the past? It is hard enough surviving in a capitalist society. Do you want to further burden yourself with all these problems? What difference does it really make? If it was your fault, so what? Are you going to stay back in time relieving the memory and wondering why you are not good enough? Or would you rather take control of your life? Thinking about a lot of things can make food seem like a secondary priority. When you fail to eat, you start losing weight and because your body is not getting the nutrients it needs in the right quantity, you may become susceptible to some diseases. This is one of the signs to look out for. 2. Taking solace in social media It is only natural to go to social media. It's a free-for-all virtual world where no one is judged or asked questions. Everyone comes around and interacts about different subjects and can, for the period, forget their problems in the real world. It is a fact that avoiding problems do not make them go away. In fact, they only postpone the inevitable. Social media, while a good escape, is not a great solution. If you are taking too much to Twitter or Facebook, you may be feeling lonelier than you thought. Hanging out with friends can be great, but only hang out with friends who are not lonely themselves. 3. Fillings of self-doubt Have you been feeling like you can't accomplish anything a lot lately? This is probably because you are lonely. When you are lonely, you can have a lot of self-doubts. You can end up wondering and wondering whether you can achieve something simply because you feel others don't believe in you. If you feel this way at the moment, say aloud to yourself when you are alone, I am a champion. This little affirmation can boost your confidence rapidly.  You don't lose confidence when others say you don't have confidence. You lose confidence when you say to yourself, do I really have confidence? Breathe, take a long walk, and remind yourself who was before now. 4. You buy a lot of stuff you don't really need. Have you been having a craving to shop more often than normal? Sometimes shopping for things is something a person can control, which is different from other people. Lonely people sometimes express it by buying stuff which subconsciously they hope can make them happy and keep them company in their loneliness. 5. Busy life cycle. Sometimes when people are lonely, the bird themselves would work, so that they are so busy with work they don't even think about their loneliness. They end up stressed out and fatigued after some time. It is not wise to work through a heartbreak. If you are sad, cry.  If you never healed from your hurt, you can hurt somebody else. 6. Poor sleeping habits. Loneliness can keep you up at night. You may want to sleep and just forget, but it isn't always that easy. You may end up being unable to sleep and end up binge-watching TV to pass the time. If you do this over time, the habit of binge-watching TV at night will form. If you can't sleep, play some soothing sleep melodies from sleep, an app with relaxing sound to help you sleep. It contains raindrop sounds, a thunderstorm, and has varieties of nature sound at night that can give you the feel of nature's embrace. 7. You hang out but stay in your corner. Loneliness is really not about not being around people. It is about feeling alone. When you go to parties, but just feel like everyone is on another planet and you are left out, this can be a strong sign of loneliness. Loneliness typically comes with a feeling of isolation. If you feel this way, you're lonely. 8. Eating too much. Have you heard of the term stress eating? People usually do this when dealing with traumatizing events like breakups, divorce, and so on. Eating too much is also an escape route, just as splurging is. Neither of them will solve your problem. You are wasting your time. Eating too much will only increase your cholesterol levels and make you obese. And then you would feel lonelier and unhappy. 9. Pretending you're happy when you're not. Single people are not necessarily lonely people. Some single people are very happy the way they are, while others are not. If you are single and not happy, but pretend to be, you're probably lonely. A lonely person has something that isn't bright and warm. People can sense this in them, and therefore stay away. If you laugh too loud and necessary, when in a gathering, people are likely to know your laughter was fake. It is not easy to pretend to be happy. Really, smiling is a full face function. If your eyes don't smile with your lips, people will definitely notice. 10. Having an untidy home. Sad and lonely people spend a lot of time breeding over their problems and don't really pay attention to the environment. This means that they are more likely to have laundry piled up than other people. Even if you're unhappy, try and keep your environment neat. If a friend comes to care for you and perceives a stink from your restroom, they may not return. 11. Taking hot showers. According to the psychology department of the University of Chicago, loneliness is the distress the results from discrepancies between ideal and perceived social relationships. Lonely people feel disappointed in their relationships with people and sometimes want it to be better, since hanging out with others can create a warm feeling. People sometimes take hot baths.  Try making new friends if you can. Being with people still beats taking hot showers any day. 12. Wicker immune system. Surprising, right? Besides not eating a lot, which naturally means your body is not getting all the nutrients you need. When you're lonely, you have a weaker immune system. According to a study conducted by UCLA, the immune system shifts focus from virus to bacteria in lonelier people. While the reason isn't clear, the fact is, loneliness has physical consequences that are quite constant. Loneliness isn't fun. Avoid it if you can. But if you can't, at least try eating. Improve your arts. 13. Depression. Loneliness and depression go hand in hand. If you're feeling depressed recently, this might be a sign that you're feeling lonely. With the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic that has a large majority staying indoors, feeling lonely is one of the things that is bound to occur. However, if you start feeling lonely this way, there are several things you can do to control it. One is to check on a friend. Don't pretend you're fine when you do, though. Speak to someone regularly about what you're going through and keep a journal if possible. If this video inspired you, subscribe to our channel. We love you.