Clinton in US-India climate plea

Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh and Hillary Clinton

Mrs Clinton visited a "green building" with India's environment minister

Visiting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said she hopes India and the US can devise a new plan to deal with the issue of climate change.

After arriving in Delhi, Mrs Clinton also sought to assure India the US would not try to impose conditions that might affect India's economic growth.

Mrs Clinton is on a five-day visit and spent the first two in Mumbai.

She is meeting PM Manmohan Singh, with relations with Pakistan also sure to be high on the agenda.

Mistakes

Carbon emissions remain a sensitive subject for developing countries such as India and China, and they have refused to commit to cuts in a new treaty.

After visiting a specially designed "green building" of a hotel chain in Delhi, Mrs Clinton said: "I am very confident the United States and India can devise a plan that will dramatically change the way we produce, consume and conserve energy and in the process spark an explosion of new investment and millions of jobs."

India is concerned carbon cuts could harm development

But she said she accepted Delhi's concerns, saying the US "would not do anything that would limit India's economic progress".

"No-one wants to stop or undermine the economic growth that is necessary to lift millions out of poverty," she said.

Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said his government could not accept any legally binding targets on carbon emissions that limited economic growth.

India argues the US must do more as it has been historically to blame for the emissions.

The BBC's Kim Ghattas, who is travelling with Mrs Clinton, says the secretary of state accepts that developed countries made the mistakes that led to the current environmental problems, but that countries like India could lead in a different direction.

Our correspondent notes that the belief in the travelling US team is that governments are often more willing to take action than publicly agree to proposals or requests.

The key date for climate change is December - when a summit in Copenhagen, Denmark will look to forge a new international treaty that will replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

Another key issue on Mrs Clinton's agenda in Delhi will be India-Pakistan relations.

The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Delhi says that publicly Mrs Clinton has insisted that what Pakistan and India do is completely up to them.

However, he says that everyone in Delhi is clear that it was pressure from Washington that pushed the countries to hold talks in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt last week.

Pakistan-India relations dominated Mrs Clinton's visit to Mumbai, in the wake of attacks on the city last November that left more than 170 people dead.

India blamed Pakistan-based militants for the attack.

Much of the US focus in the region has been on countering militancy in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Mrs Clinton will also be looking for other tangible agreements, mostly related to nuclear energy and weapons, deals that would pave the way for more business for American companies.

Are you in India? What do you hope Hillary Clinton's visit will achieve? Send us your comments using the form below.