Third round of India-US strategic dialogue will be held in Washington on 13th of this month.It will be co-chaired by External Affairs Minister,S.M.Krishna and his US counterpart, Hillary Clinton. Mr. Krishna will be accompanied by a high power delegation.

They include Science and Technology Minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh, Health Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Deputy chairman of Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia besides Advisor to the Prime Minister on Public Information, Infrastructure and Innovation, Sam Pitroda on 12th of this month.

The two sides will have discussions in more than 20 distinct policy areas. The External Affairs Minister will also hold a meeting with United States and Ethiopia on child survival on 14th and 15th. The meeting will focus on ending preventable child deaths.

Ahead of the dialogue the US Assistant Secretary of State, Robert Blake said in Washington that the dialogue has brought the two countries into much closer strategic conversion on a range important issues and has helped improve trade and business relationship.

He said with the growing bipartisan support for expanding the bilateral relations the two countries will work together more closely in the years to come. He, however made it clear that the United States does not expect India to toe the American line all the time.

Ms. Clinton will co- chair a dialogue on higher education with Human Resource Development Minister, Kapil Sibal. This will be followed by Higher Education summit. It will focus on advance research and innovation and work force development.

The Science and Technology Minister, Mr. Deshmukh will also hold a meeting with his American counterpart to further strengthen cooperation in the field of science and technology.