India, US make progress on NSSP

India and the US on Thursday made "substantial progress" in implementation of Phase I of the 'Next Steps in Strategic Partnership' for facilitating high-technology trade.

Visiting US Assistant Secretary of State Christina Rocca discussed various aspects of the NSSP with her Indian interlocutor S Jaishankar, joint secretary in the external affairs ministry.

This is also the first meeting of the implementation group of the NSSP's Phase I.

Rocca said the discussions involved setting up a framework on Phase II and make it as rapid as possible.

"We have moved to a phase in Indo-US relations where many barriers that separated us over the last many years have come down," she said.

Rocca, who met Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia, said, "We are talking about a very important policy shift, which really moves this relationship on to strategic ground because we are talking about very sensitive things."

Describing this as a "whole step forward that puts the relationship on a different footing", Rocca said under the Phase II, the two sides would work on harmonising their export control regimes.

This required some changes in both India and the US, she said, adding as these things evolve, more and more existing restrictions and licensing requirements would get dropped.