Special To News India-Times NEW DELHI:

The NDA government is keen that military cooperation with the United States was possible with increased ties between the two countries, and it did not rule out the possibility of US access to military bases in India.

External Affairs and Defense Minister Jaswant Singh told reporters at the end of his five-day visit to Australia that greater recognition of the regional status of India by the United States and countries like Australia was a recognition of reality.

Asked what new directions could be opened up in relations with the United States and whether American access to Indian bases was possible, Singh said: “Military-to-military cooperation is also one of the complements of Indo-US cooperation.”

“Access to bases is moving far too fast, yet,” he said, adding: “Let these things evolve over time.”

Also, the US is to help India set up a center to fight terrorism and the two countries are expected to forge closer intelligence cooperation on the problem.

Both countries are likely to discuss the center and have agreed to step up sharing of intelligence when their officials meet for a two-day session of the Indo-US Joint Working Group on Counterterrorism in Washington this week, according to media reports.

The group has already held two rounds of talks and this week’s session is the first since the administration of President George W. Bush took power.

Officials were also expected to discuss the implications of the use by terrorists of chemical and biological weapons. India is battling separatist violence in its northeastern states bordering Myanmar, Bangladesh and China, as well as in the disputed Kashmir region. It is also facing Maoist guerrillas in the jungles of eastern and southern India.

Indian police arrested four people earlier this month on suspicion of involvement with a group linked to Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden and suspected of plotting attacks on US embassies in India and Bangladesh.

India did not have close relations with the United States during the Cold War when India was generally seen as closer to the then-Soviet Union. Relations between New Delhi and Washington have improved steadily over recent years. India and Australia are among the few countries that have expressed understanding of Bush’s planned missile defense system, which has sparked major concern in Russia, Europe and China.

The Bush administration is expected to soon lift sanctions on India, imposed three years ago as punishment for New Delhi’s nuclear weapons tests.

Singh also said his expectations for next month’s planned meeting between Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistan’s President General Pervez Musharraf were realistic.

He said the meeting would address the vexed issue of Kashmir, over which the two nations have fought two wars since 1947, but he would not be drawn on other issues concerning the agenda for the talks, the first between India and neighboring Pakistan in two years.

Singh was also reticent on the surprise move last week by Musharraf, Pakistan’s military ruler, to install himself as head of state, a step condemned by the United States, Britain and the Commonwealth as a blow to democracy.

“This is a matter of internal governance by Pakistan, talks are to take place, and we have simply offered our congratulations on his becoming president of Pakistan,” he said. Singh and Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer reaffirmed their positions on the US missile defense system, but called on Washington to consult fully on the controversial plan.

“Both of us very much agreed that it’s very important the US undertakes extensive dialogue with its allies, especially with China and Russia on this issue, so they fully understand the perspective from which the Americans are coming,” Downer said. The ministers also announced plans to initiate in August a security dialogue between Australia and India.

“It will have aspects of economic security, energy and security of the region,” Singh said. Relations between the two countries soured in 1998 when India attracted international condemnation for nuclear weapons tests.

Downer said Australia remained concerned that the arms-control debate had stalled but it did not want to rock efforts by the Indian government to build a national political consensus towards signing a comprehensive nuclear test-ban treaty. Australia’s relationship with India has been too thin and too remote for too long, he said.