Today, at a joint Press interaction with the external affairs minister, Mr Salman Khurshid, Mr Kerry spoke at length about the India-US bilateral relationship and touched on many areas of common interest ranging from terrorism to climate change. Yet, it seemed that the two countries were struggling to find new areas of cooperation. The issue of the civil nuclear deal, which saw the bilateral relationship at its prime was referred to by Mr Kerry, who said he was keen to push forward implementation of the civil nuclear deal and for more defence co-production and co-development, besides cooperation in higher education and other issues.

Mr Kerry made a spirited defence of the National Security Agency's controversial spying programme, saying it has averted terrorist acts and saved lives. There is huge amount of miscommunication about US snooping into

e-mails or phone calls, Mr Kerry said, while also denying civil liberty violations. He gave a detailed response on how the spying programme is not random in nature, but very much within the legal framework of the US judicial system. Mr Kerry smartly chose to ignore the fact that the US judicial laws do not apply globally. He also took a dig at former CIA operative Mr Edward Snowden and at Russia and China. Mr Snowden is the man responsible for blowing the cover off the US spying programme. Mr Kerry said, “Wonder if Snowden chose Russia or China for assistance because they are such bastions of Internet freedom.” Mr Kerry referred to Snowden as an indicted felon and added that all appropriate countries have been notified of his status.

Mr Kerry said US Vice President Mr Joe Biden will visit India next month. He co-chaired the fourth India-US Strategic Dialogue, a forum to discuss the full range of US-India cooperation on bilateral and regional issues. India and the US also agreed to set up a working group on climate change.