Clinton in Kolkata on her three day visit to India

by sagarmedia

By sagarmedia on May 6, 2012 |

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Kolkata today on a 3-day visit to India. She will hold talks with West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee on Monday at Writers Building in Kolkata.Writers’ Buildings, the venue of the meeting between Ms Banerjee and Ms Clinton, has been converted into a virtual fortress.
The FBI teams inspected the building together with top city police officers and intelligence officials. US secretary of state Hillary Clinton on Sunday visited Victoria Memorial, the grand edifice of the British Raj here, and was delighted to see some exhibits. Ms Clinton will fly off to New Delhi in the afternoon on Monday.
During her stay Tuesday  in the national capital, she is expected to call on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh apart from holding talks with Krishna, during which they will also review progress made in their countries’ strategic partnership ahead of the India-US strategic dialogue to be held in Washington on June 13.
The meeting between Clinton and Indian leaders gains significance as it comes immediately after her high-level talks in China and ahead of the crucial NATO summit in Chicago, where some important decisions are expected to be made on Afghanistan. “The entire gamut of bilateral relationship apart from all those issues which impinge on the Indo-US partnership will be discussed,” an official source said in New Delhi.
Clinton arrives in Kolkata today in the first leg of her three-day visit to the country.During her two-day stay in the city, she will meet West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee among other engagements. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee,and Hillary Clinton US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to meet on Monday and the agenda of discussion with CM Mamata Banerjje FDI in multi-brand retail and other economic reforms are likely to come up at meeting. Discussions over US investment in West Bengal would also be on the discussion.
US, which has imposed sanctions against Tehran, has been asking India to restrict its import of crude oil from Iran but New Delhi has been maintaining that it only accepts sanctions which are made by the United Nations and not unilateral sanctions. Senior officials in the US administration have maintained that discussions over India-Bangladesh ties and trade ought to come up in the discussions between Clinton and Banerjee.  The Indo-Bangla Teesta Water Treaty, which is being opposed by the West Bengal Chief Minister, is also expected to be discussed during their meeting.  The issue of FDI in multi-brand retail and other economic reforms are also expected to be discussed.