Krishna meet Hillary today, visa issue to be discussed
New York: External Affairs Minister SM Krishna meets US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session.
India has “consistently” taken up the issue of the visa fee hike with the US and the issue will figure in talks between Krishna and Clinton, official sources said.
The US had raised visa fee in 2010 to fund its enhanced costs on securing border with Mexico under the Border Security Act.
Hiking visa fees or limiting the number of work visas available to Indian companies is tantamount to “undermining that pillar and growth in India-US relations,” they added.
“Raising visa fees and putting other barriers is not in consonance with the forward thinking of growing bilateral ties,” the sources said.
This will be the third bilateral meeting between Krishna and Clinton this year. They had previously met in India in April and again in June in Washington.
The sources said that the two countries have a fairly elaborate agenda and the visa issue is one of the issues in a broader relationship. Krishna will also address the 67th session of the UN General Assembly on Monday.
He would also participate in a meeting to commemorate 15 years of the convention against chemical weapons and the informal meeting of the SAARC Foreign Ministers on October 2.
