It's Focus India for Obama administration

Washington: The US has decided to give top priority to its ties with India, which is reflected in an unprecedented series of high-level exchange visits between the two countries this month. The visits are aimed at taking forward their cooperation in areas like defence, trade and education.

Defence Secretary Leon Panetta will spend two days in New Delhi next week as part of a visit aimed at taking the military-to-military relationship between the two countries to the next level.

By June end, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is scheduled to land in India for economic and business talks with his Indian counterpart.

And in between, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has decided to go out of her way to co-chair at least three cabinet level meetings/summits with Indian ministers, including the third round of Strategic Dialogue in Washington with External Affairs Minister SM Krishna on June 13.

The Indian delegation would be represented by four cabinet ministers and two cabinet-level officials.

In fact, given the number of events that have been scheduled around June 13, it is being called as Indian week in Washington.

A day before the India-US Strategic Dialogue, Ms Clinton would co-chair with Human Resources Development Minister Kapil Sibal at the Education Dialogue, which is a follow up to the first meeting held here last year on June 12.

Mr Sibal would be accompanied by a number of Indian education officials and representatives from Indian universities and educational institutions.

On June 11, Science and Technology Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh would co-chair a meeting with his US counterpart to discuss cooperation in the field of science and technology.