She will hold detailed discussions with Krishna in which the two sides are expected to look at ways to further strengthen the growing strategic and defence ties. The two countries are likely to sign some pacts including the End User Verification Agreement, under which the US would be able to supply sensitive military equipment. Negotiations for the end-user agreement were on for over a year, but the two sides were unable to finalise it due to India’s reservations to on-site inspection by the US. India in the recent past, had procured defence equipment from the US and the absence of an end-user verification agreement would make it difficult for both countries to enter into any defence deals in future.

Besides this, India and the US were expected to review steps taken by Pakistan to bring to justice to the perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attacks, and would discuss issues relating to climate change. At the recent Major Economies Forum meet in Italy, amid “intense pressure from the developed nations”, India agreed to accept the global emission level reduction target, which it had all along been refusing to do. The objective is to percent global temperatures from rising two degrees centigrade above pre-industrialisaton levels.

India, for its part, demanded that developed countries first bring down their own emissions to 1990 levels as was committed by them under the UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol. India had held that the emission reduction point is non-negotiable and maintained that even if the country had a GDP growth of 8-9 per cent in the next 10-20 years, it would still have a per capita Green House Gas emission that will be way below that of developed nations. The rich countries, led by the US, rank high on the list Green House Gas per capita emitters and India, along with China, Brazil and South Africa have been demanding them to cut emissions by at least 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.

As regards terrorism and Pakistan, New Delhi was likely to register its opposition to US aid to Pakistan, citing its apprehensions that it was not used for the intended purpose but diverted to other activities that hurt India. Having inked the civil nuclear deal, the two sides will discuss ways to implement the agreement as India and the US were negotiating for setting up two nuclear plants in India. Krishna and Clinton will also discuss the global economic crisis and cooperative ways to deal with the problem.