Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived in New York on Tuesday for the first major diplomatic foray that includes talks with US President George W Bush, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and address to the United Nations General Assembly.

Singh will hold a breakfast meeting with Bush during which the two leaders are expected to cover growing Indo-US strategic partnership, shared non-proliferation and security concerns of the two countries in the global war against terrorism, high technology transfer to India and curbing proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Singh and Bush are also expected to exchange views on the situation in Iraq, Afghanistan, West Asia, UN reforms and broad vistas that have opened for economic partnership.

A positive tone for the meeting was set with the US agreeing to ease export restrictions, including removal of ISRO from the prohibitive list and moving ahead on the 'Next Steps in Strategic Partnership(NSSP)'.

Defence Cooperation between India and US are bound to figure in the Bush-Singh talks with missile defence being just one aspect of that. The two countries have been holding joint exercises periodically for some time and Indian expertise in fighting terrorism is highly regarded in the US.

The groundwork for the summit-level meeting has been laid both in New Delhi and in Washington at the recent interaction on the Next Steps in Strategic Partnershp (NSSP), which concluded Phase One of the partnership talks and prepared the ground for further progress in the next phases.

Closely watched will be Singh's meeting with Musharraf on Friday ahead of which the former said that
progress in the dialogue process covering all aspects can be made if terrorism was firmly brought under control.

"I will convey to him (Musharraf) that our country is sincere in carrying forward dialogue. Both sides recognise that we are dealing with complicated issues. It will take time. So we should be patient," Singh told reporters accompanying him on his trip to United Kingdom and US.

New Delhi is concerned at Pakistan's failure to dismantle terrorist infrastructure despite promises made by Musharraf that he would not allow its territory to be used for terrorist activity against India.

This issue could come up during Singh's discussions with the world leaders as he presses for sustained and united fight against the scourge.

Singh said that Bush's meeting with him in the midst of hectic pre-election campaign for the US presidential polls indicated the importance Washington attaches to strengthening relations with India.

A joint statement will be issued after the parleys, he said observing that both sides were committed to further consolidating bilateral relations.

Noting that in the last five years, a lot of restrictions had been placed by the US on India in high
technology areas, the prime minister hoped there would be considerable relaxation in this. He was also hopeful of the first phase in the NSSP would be concretised.

The significance of the first phase of NSSP is expected to be more profound than had been realised immediately after the meeting.

According to informed sources, what the Americans agreed to was to remove 75 to 85 percent of the licensing requirements for such key areas as Indian Space Research Organisation and its subsidiaries.

The requirements for application for Indian imports of dual use items will be reduced by 25 per cent.

India has pointed out that Indian multinationals are beginning to invest in the US and that the opportunities in India for US multinationals and other companies are much greater than they have taken advantage of so far.

While media focus has usually been on India-Pakistan relations while discussing US-India relations, informed sources say it is not likely to occupy more than 5 or 10 per cent of the time. Indo-American concerns span a much wider range.

They cover, for instance, in addition to the common war on terrorism, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Iran, Iraq and Central Asia among other subjects.

Equally important, this time on the economic front, will be Singh's visit to the Neew York Stock Exchange where he will be meeting the leaders of US commerce and industry at the highest levels, which was never before possible at a single meeting.

The Indian image has gradually been burnished in the US because of the solid achievements of the country
economically and in the growing field of high-tech, of which outsourcing is just one aspect. The reason why outsourcing is no longer an issue in Britain is partly because Indian investments in Britain now equal British investments in India.

Though there is no comparison, Indian investments in the US are expected to grow, which means that for every job, critics say is lost to India, defenders of not interfering with the laws of economics can point to jobs created in the US by Indian companies.

Also important will be the meeting he will have with the top CEOs of Indian American companies in Silicon Valley and elsewhere who will be here for meeting the prime minister.

Singh will also hold meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Afghan President Hamid Karzai on the margins of the UN meet.

The prime minister said that in his address to the UNGA and meetings with world leaders, he will convey to them that it was 'absolutely essential' for reforms of the UN system, particularly the Security Council.

He will push forward India's 'strong' claim for permanent membership of an enlarged Security Council,
emphasising that the voice of one billion people must be recognised. "We are a power to reckon with. A new India is emerging. India is on the move," he said.

One of the interesting meetings Singh will have will be a G-4 meeting. Hosted by Japan, that will include the heads of delegations of Japan, India, Brazil and Germany.