U.S. President Barack Obama spoke with Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on Friday to discuss the inaugural “strategic dialogue” between the world's two biggest democracies, which begins in Washington next week. “The two leaders agreed that the dialogue is an important milestone in the development of the U.S.-India strategic partnership and looked forward to its results,” the White House said in a statement. “President Obama and Prime Minister Dr.Singh also expressed their hope that the dialogue will initiate a regular exchange of ideas and discussions between their governments, and both pledged their support toward that end,” the White House wrote. The strategic dialogue, to be hosted by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is designed to focus on issues including counter-terrorism, nuclear non-proliferation, climate change, economics, and science and technology. Obama, who plans to visit India later this year, also expressed sympathy to the Indian leader over last week's airliner crash in Mangalore and Friday's disaster sparked by Maoist rebels who derailed a high-speed train, the White House said. At least 80 people were killed when Maoist rebels derailed a high-speed train into the path of a freight train in eastern India on Friday. Almost 160 people were killed in Mangalore last Saturday when an airliner arriving from Dubai overshot the runway.
