Rice to travel to India, Kazakhstan

THE STANS

Azerbaijan to double troops in Afghanistan
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by Staff Writers
Washington (AFP) Oct 2, 2008
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will travel to India and Kazakhstan from Friday, including for talks in New Delhi about the landmark US-India civilian nuclear agreement passed by Congress, the State Department said Thursday.

Rice "will travel to India and Kazakhstan on October 3rd through the 5th," department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.

In India, she will meet with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee, opposition leader L. K. Advani and other Indian leaders including on the nuclear agreement passed by the US Senate late Wednesday.

The passage removed the final legislative hurdle for resumption of civilian nuclear trade between the two countries after three decades.

McCormack could not say whether Rice would sign any nuclear agreement while in New Delhi amid Indian news reports that she would sign the deal's operating agreement with Mukherjee during the trip.

"They will discuss a wide range of issues, including the US-India Civil Nuclear Cooperation Initiative, trade, counterterrorism, human rights, religious freedom and education," McCormack said.

In Kazakhstan, Rice will meet with President President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Prime Minister Karim Masimov and other officials on security and energy cooperation and political and economic reforms, he said.

The former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan, which has rich oil and gas reserves, is one of the leading states of the strategic Central Asian region.

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