Clinton aims to deepen ties with India

By Arshad Mohammed

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton leaves for India on Thursday on a high-profile mission to deepen ties and dispel any doubts about the U.S. commitment to New Delhi under U.S. President Barack Obama.

Despite Obama's early focus on fighting the Taliban insurgencies in Afghanistan and Pakistan, aides say they fully understand India's importance as a rising major power and they want to strengthen all aspects of the relationship.

"Everything is on the table," Clinton said on Wednesday. "We're going to do everything we can to broaden and deepen our engagement."

U.S. officials hope they will come away from the trip, which includes two nights each in Mumbai and New Delhi and a visit to Thailand for a regional conference, with tangible accomplishments in at least three areas:

-- signing an agreement to ensure that U.S. arms technology sold to India does not leak to third countries, a step required by U.S. law for arms sales by U.S. corporations;

-- India's announcement that it has reserved two sites for U.S. companies to build nuclear power plants, which could be worth as much as $10 billion (6.1 billion pounds) in business for American firms;

-- establishing a "strategic dialogue" between the two countries to be led by Clinton and Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna.

All three, likely to be unveiled when Clinton visits New Delhi on Monday, could demonstrate that Obama's commitment to the relationship equals that of his predecessor, George W. Bush.