differences and increase mutual understanding on
non-proliferation and security issues. This will help
us to realize the full potential of Indo-U.S. relations
and contribute significantly to regional and global
security.

The true measure of our strength lies in the ability of
our people to shape their destiny and to realize their
aspirations for a better life. That is why the United
States and India are and will be allies in the cause of
democracy. We will share our experience in nurtur-
ing and strengthening democratic institutions the
world over and fighting the challenge to democratic
order from forces such as terrorism. We will coop-
erate with others to launch an international Commu-
nity of Democracies this year.

The United States applauds India’s success in open-
ing its economy, its achievements in science and
technology, its commitment to a new wave of eco-
nomic expansion and reform, and its determination
to bring the benefits of economic growth to all its
people. Our nations pledge to reduce impediments to
bilateral trade and investment and to expand com-
merce between us, especially in the emerging knowl-
edge-based industries and high-technology areas.

We will work together to preserve stability and growth
in the global economy as well. And we will join in an
unrelenting battle against poverty in the world, so
that the promise of a new economy is felt every-
where and no nation is left behind. That is among the
fundamental challenges of our time. Opening trade
and resisting protectionism are the best means for
meeting it. We support an open, equitable and trans-
parent rule-based multilateral trading system, and
we will work together to strengthen it. We agree that
developed countries should embrace policies that
offer developing countries the opportunity to grow,
because growth is the key to rising incomes and
rising standards. At the same time, we share the
conviction that human development also requires
empowerment of people and availability of basic
freedoms.

As leaders in the forefront of the new high-technol-
ogy economy, we recognize that countries can achieve
robust economic growth while protecting the envi-
ronment and taking action to combat climate change.
We will do our part to meet the global environmental
challenges, including climate change and the im-
pacts of air and water pollution on human health.

We also pledge a common effort to battle the infec-
tious diseases that kill people and retard progress in

so many countries. India is-at the forefront of the
global effort that has brought us to the threshold of
the eradication of polio. With leadership, joint re-
search, and application of modern science, we can
and will do the same for the leading killers of our
time, including AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.

We are proud of the cooperation between Indians
and Americans in advancing frontiers of knowledge.
But even as we unravel the mysteries of time and
space, we must continue to apply our knowledge to
older challenges: eradicating human suffering, dis-
ease and poverty. In the past, our cooperation helped
ease mass hunger in the world. In the future, it will
focus as well on the development of clean energy,
health, and education.

Our partnership is not an end in itself, but a means
to all these ends. And it is reinforced by the ties of
scholarship, commerce, and increasingly of kinship
among our people. The industry, enterprise and
cultural contributions of Americans of Indian heri-
tage have enriched and enlivened both our societies.

Today, we pledge to deepen the Indian-American
partnership in tangible ways, always seeking to rec-
oncile our differences through dialogue and engage-
ment, always seizing opportunities to advance the
countless interests we have in common. As a first
step, President Clinton has invited Prime Minister
Vajpayee to visit Washington at a mutually conve-
nient opportunity, and the Prime Minister has ac-
cepted that invitation. Henceforth, the President of
the United States and the Prime Minister of India
should meet regularly to institutionalize our dia-
logue. We have also agreed on and separately out-
lined an architecture of additional high-level consul-
tations, and of joint working groups, across the broad
spectrum of areas in which we are determined to
institutionalize our enhanced cooperation. And we
will encourage even stronger people-to-people ties.

For India and the United States, this is a day of new
beginnings. We have before us for the first time in 50
years the possibility to realize the full potential of our
relationship. We will work to seize that chance, for
our benefit and all those with whom we share this
increasingly interdependent world.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Prime Minister of India

William Jefferson Clinton
President of the United States of America

Done on March 21, 2000 at New Delhi

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