Washington has ruled out any adverse impact on Indo US relations because of New Delhi's Position on non-proliferation and CTBT. The US is hopeful to move forward with the landmark agreement. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Robert Blake said this while briefing journalists after a bilateral meeting between Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and External Affairs Minister S M Krishna in New York. The senior US official said that discussion between S.M.Krishna and Hillary Clinton also included cooperation between India and the US on higher education, referring to Indian Lok Sabha bill that will enable more foreign participation in the higher education sector. According to External Affairs Ministry spokesman Hillary conveyed Washington’s regard for India as one of its most important partner. The two leaders agreed that the recent visit of Home Minister P. Chidambaram to the United States had laid the foundation for furthering their cooperation in counter-terrorism cooperation and intelligence exchange.