LIEBERMAN STATEMENT ON THE STATE VISIT OF THE PRIME MINISTER OF INDIA

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) issued the following statement after meeting the Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh, on the occasion of his state visit to the United States: “The strategic partnership between the United States and India is one of the most natural and necessary pillars to ensure and expand security, prosperity, and freedom in the Asia-Pacific region and globally in the 21st century. Just as we welcome Prime Minister Singh to Washington this week, India's rise as a major world power should be welcomed and supported by Americans, given the extraordinary alignment of both shared interests and shared values that binds together our two great democracies. While we have made enormous strides in recent years, I am hopeful and confident that even deeper engagement and cooperation between all the diverse sectors of our respective societies is possible -- from students to scientists, and from military leaders to farmers and businessmen -- and will yield even greater achievements in the years ahead. “Sadly, we must also acknowledge -- in particular as we approach the anniversary of the barbaric attack in Mumbai -- that both our societies are under attack by the same network of violent Islamist extremists, and that we should therefore cooperate more closely in the fields of counterterrorism, intelligence sharing, and homeland security to defeat them. Whether al Qaeda, the Taliban, or Lashkar-e-Taiba, we should never forget that these terrorist groups are linked by the same fanatical and hateful ideology, and their ultimate defeat is therefore also indivisibly linked. “I am deeply grateful for the visionary and courageous leadership of Prime Minister Singh, who has done so much to transform India's relations with the United States. It is thoroughly appropriate that the first state visit of the Obama Administration honors this far-sighted architect of our future.”