INDIA: EMPHASIS ON INCREASING U.S. S&T COLLABORATION

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