India set to sign arms pact with US
Inside Story

India’s arms deal with the US

Will the pact strengthen India’s position or just increase tensions in the region?

India and the US has formally agreed on a list of bi-lateral business deals, cementing a relationship that has been nurtured since the end of the Cold War.

After disagreement over climate change, the US signed a defence pact with India – boosting Delhi’s access to sophisticated military hardware and nuclear development.

The pact, known as an end-use monitoring agreement, was signed by Hillary Clinton on Monday during her first trip to India as the US secretary of state.

Inside Story asks: Will such an investment increase the power of India both economically and diplomatically or will it raise tensions in a region already thought of as unstable?

Our guests on this show are Teresita Schaffer, the director of the South Asia programme at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and a former US ambassador to Sri Lanka, Maria Sultan, the director of the South Asian Strategic Stability Institute, and Uday Bhaskar, a stategic analyst and former naval officer.

This episode of Inside Story aired on Tuesday, July 21, 2009.