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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NEW DELHI 001294 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR OES/PCI, OES/STC, OES/SAT, OES/EGC, AND SCA/INS 
STATE FOR STAS 
DOE FOR INTERNATIONAL 
INTERIOR FOR FWS RILEY 
STATE PASS TO NSF FOR INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KSCA SENV TSPL ECON SOCI IN
 
SUBJECT: INDIA: EMPHASIS ON INCREASING U.S. S&T COLLABORATION 
 
REF: NEW DELHI 1290 
 
¶1. (SBU) During a 19 June courtesy call, Mr. Prithviraj Chavan, 
newly appointed Minister for Science and Technology and Minister of 
Earth Sciences, and continuing Minister of State in the Prime 
Minister's Office, told the Charge (CDA) that he wanted science and 
technology (S&T) collaboration between the US and India to "go to 
new heights."  He noted several times that not enough was being done 
in U.S.-India S&T collaboration, and that increased joint research 
was especially needed in the university and industry sectors. He 
said that India was worried about climate change and trying to find 
solutions, but more research needed to be done.  Over the next five 
years, Mr. Chavan said his focus will be a "qualitative change" in 
science research in India. 
 
¶2. (SBU) The CDA reaffirmed to Mr. Chavan that the USG orientation 
to India was one of dramatic expansion, as evidenced by Secretary 
Clinton's speech at a US-India Business Council event, her upcoming 
visit, and the recent visit of Undersecretary Burns.  Mr. Chavan 
said he recognized that President Obama needed to deal with serious 
economic problems in the U.S.  He expected that once the new 
Government of India (GOI) was settled in as well, the relationship 
would increase all around and particularly in S&T.  Noting that the 
U.S. and India do not always see eye to eye in multilateral fora, 
the CDA said signals were improving and he was hopeful that the U.S. 
and India could have a meeting of the minds, understand our 
different perspectives, and overcome some of our differences 
bilaterally before engaging in multilateral forums. 
 
¶3. (SBU) The CDA indicated to Mr. Chavan that the U.S. and India 
were in the process of reviewing our official dialogues, including 
those involving S&T.  He provided Mr. Chavan with a draft copy of 
current US thinking on the proposed structure and advised him our 
mutual goal was to jointly announce an agreement on the architecture 
during Secretary Clinton's upcoming visit to India.  Mr. Chavan 
noted that the official strategic dialogues were good, but that he 
wanted to see more joint research and action at the laboratory 
level.  Given the vast possibilities for collaboration, the CDA 
encouraged efforts to identify specific areas to focus on through 
the official dialogues. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Mr. Chavan acknowledged interest on both sides to finalize 
the S&T Endowment and Bi-National Commission agreement prior to 
Secretary Clinton's visit.  Both Mr. Chavan and Secretary T. 
Ramasami from the Department of Science and Technology (DST) claimed 
there were only a 'few minor word differences,' and promised that 
the text would be ready in time.  On further prompting by CDA for a 
concrete timeline, Dr. Ramasami and Y.P. Kumar - Head of 
International Relations for DST - agreed to a DVC the week of June 
22 to conduct final coordination on the text with State/OES.  Mr. 
Chavan wondered why the endowment was so small and said that he 
would prefer for it to be better funded, and that his Ministry could 
find the money to support a larger endowment.  (NOTE: The proposed 
endowment is 30 million USD. END NOTE) 
 
¶5. COMMENT: (SBU) Since assuming his position as Minister of Science 
and Technology and Minister of Earth Sciences on May 28, Mr. Chavan 
 
NEW DELHI 00001294  002 OF 002 
 
 
has spent much of his time traveling, meeting people, and taking 
stock of India's S&T infrastructure.  In addition to these new 
Ministerial positions, Mr. Chavan retains his responsibilities in 
several other Ministries and Departments - including as Minister of 
State in the Prime Minister's Office.  Mr. Chavan clearly held the 
respect of the other Indian meeting participants, and came across as 
a man who is ready and willing to make decisions and get things 
done. See REFTEL for a more detailed biography of Mr. Chavan. END 
COMMENT 
 
¶6. (U) Meeting Participants included: 
 
-- Mr. Prithviraj Chavan, Minister of State, Ministry of Science and 
Technology 
-- Dr. T. Ramasami, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology 
-- Mr. Y.P. Kumar, Head of International Relations, Department of 
Science and Technology 
-- Mr. Pankaj Saran, Joint Secretary (MEA), Prime Minister's Office 
 
-- Charge D'Affaires Ambassador Peter Burleigh 
-- Acting Counselor for Environment, Science and Technology Heather 
Broman 
 
BURLEIGH