NEW DELHI: A senior US diplomat will travel to Nepal, India, Sri Lanka and Qatar from January 28 to February 3, announced the US State Department on Saturday.
While in India, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland will lead the US-India annual “Foreign Office Consultations”, which cover a range of bilateral, regional and global issues. She will also meet young tech leaders.
The engagement comes just ahead of NSA Ajit Doval’s visit to the US, reportedly to explore new technologies that both sides can partner on. India’s Deputy NSA Vikram Misri has already visited the US. In Nepal, Nuland will engage with the new government on the broad agenda of the US partnership with Nepal.
In Sri Lanka, she will mark the 75th anniversary of US-Sri Lanka relations and offer continued US support for Sri Lanka’s efforts to stabilise the economy, protect human rights and promote reconciliation, said the State Department statement. In Qatar, the Under Secretary will discuss global issues and also engage on Doha’s support for the relocation of Afghans with ties to the US. Nuland, who played a hawkish role in the Iraq war and the 2014 coup in Ukraine, last visited India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in March last year, shortly after all three displayed a divergence in their stand on Ukraine by abstaining from a vote at the UN on the issue.
She will be in the subcontinent barely a fortnight after her junior colleague in the US State Department Donald Lu was here. China had then objected to Lu commenting on its border dispute with India. Lu had accused China of not taking “good faith steps” to resolve the border issue.
Lu had courted controversy in Pakistan and Nepal for alleged US interference in their internal affairs.