Biden on visit to fire up US-India ties

US Vice President Joe Biden was due in India Monday at the start of a four-day visit designed to revive momentum in flagging diplomatic ties and fire up bilateral trade. Biden, the first vice president to visit India in three decades, will meet senior leaders including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi before heading to the financial hub Mumbai to deliver a keynote speech on the economy. In an interview published in Monday's Times of India newspaper, Biden said the world's two biggest democracies had a "tremendous capability to work together" but should be doing more. He also emphasised that he wanted to see an acceleration in bilateral trade, which he said was on track to meet $100 billion this year. "The United States has welcomed India's emergence and both nations have profited from it," the vice president said. "India's rise as a global economic power is one of the most powerful stories of the 21st century," he added. The announcement of Biden's visit was made during a trip to India last month by Secretary of State John Kerry, who sought to assuage Indian fears about the aftermath of next year's withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. India, which has spent more than two billion dollars of aid in Afghanistan, fears any return of the Taliban, hardline Islamists who were strong allies of Pakistan before being toppled in 2001. Nascent talks between the US and Taliban were due to start last month after the Islamists opened an office in Doha, but they collapsed before even getting off the ground. In his meeting with Indian leaders, Biden is expected to reiterate that the US will not back any peace process involving the Taliban unless they renounce violence. "If the Taliban are to have any role in Afghanistan's political future, they will need to break ties with al-Qaeda, stop supporting violence and accept the Afghan constitution as part of the outcomes of any negotiated peace settlement," he told the Times of India. "We strongly support the role India has played in Afghanistan, leveraging its economic strength to improve Afghanistan's economy ...in projects that will help to ensure our common goal of a stable and prosperous future for the Afghan people," he added. Biden will fly on Wednesday to Mumbai where he is expected to hold a roundtable with business leaders and press for stronger intellectual property protection. While bilateral trade has grown in recent years, there is still widespread frustration among US business leaders over what they see as unfair trading practices. Among the points of contention is India's championing of generic drugs -- which advocates say save lives in poor nations -- despite protests from Western drug firms. India in turn has been alarmed by proposals in the US Congress to curb visas for high-tech workers. India's Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and Commerce Minister Anand Sharma were both in Washington last week to pitch for investment and discuss India's readiness to open talks on a bilateral investment treaty. "Economic engagement in both trade and investment, though robust, is well below potential, given the opportunities a growing economy like India offers and the opportunities in the largest economy of the United States," Sharma said. Biden will be the most senior administration official to visit India since President Barack Obama visited in 2010. While the US has been among the world powers calling for India to be given a permanent seat at the UN Security Council, observers detect a sense of drift in ties. "India is a natural ally of the US but... relations require greasing occasionally because insecurities have crept in, especially on the Indian side," Subhash Agrawal, of the Delhi-based think tank India Focus, told AFP. Biden will head from India to Singapore on Thursday, where officials say he will tackle tensions over the disputed South China Sea.