DHAKA: The United States Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia, Christina Rocca, told a press conference here that the U.S. Government has very good relations with India and the ties were being broadened as the U.S. shared a lot of common interests with it.

Asked about press reports that she had talked about issues concerning Bangladesh and Nepal with Indian officials, Ms. Rocca, at the end of her two-day visit to Dhaka on Thursday, avoided a direct reply but said the U.S. had a bilateral policy for each country.

``We want peace, democracy and development in this region. India is one of the largest democracies and we must develop our relations where there is democracy and thus our relation with India is growing.''

When a journalist asked a question about India's ``big brother'' attitude towards its neighbours, she said: ``I do not want to make any comment on bilateral issues and the U.S. does not want to get involved in bilateral matters of any country.''

`SAARC has key role'

The U.S. believed that SAARC could do a lot more to use the untapped resources and potentialities in the region for improving the life of the people. Many potentialities in South Asia still remained untapped.

To a question, she said they had information about the threat of extremism in Bangladesh and had discussed with the Government leaders about how the U.S. could assist Dhaka. ``But we didn't have any detailed discussions about U.S. assistance to contain terrorism and extremism. We will discuss it more in future,'' she said.

Ms. Rocca said she had spoken to Prime Minister Khaleda Zia about the need for good governance. On her meeting with Foreign Minister Morshed Khan, she said, ``We discussed about the whole range of bilateral issues, continuation of democratic process, peacekeeping operations, possible cooperation between Bangladesh and the U.S. on global issues of common concern and how Bangladesh can play a role in global peace, democracy and peacekeeping.''

Washington was happy to see that steps had been taken by Bangladesh to curb extremism as well as banning some Islamist groups in the country. Asked whether she saw any improvement since her last visit to Bangladesh, she said: ``I have seen some good steps. There have been steps in the right direction.''

She said the U.S. would continue its support for democracy in Bangladesh.

The U.S. Assistant Secretary called for thorough investigations into all incidents of political violence, including the attempt on the life of the Leader of the Opposition, Sheikh Hasina, and the assassination of the former Finance Minister, Shah AMS Kibria.

After the meeting with Ms. Rocca, Mr. Morshed told journalists that the U.S. would provide assistance to enhance Dhaka's capacity to combat terrorism and improve the law and order situation.

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