US defence secretary visits India

US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is due to arrive in India Tuesday on to discuss Washington's new strategic focus on the Asia-Pacific region and boosting bilateral military ties. During the two-day visit, Panetta is scheduled to hold talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his counterpart AK Antony, diplomatic sources said. The US Defense Secretary is on a nine-day tour of Asia that included his announcement that the United States will deploy 60 per cent of its naval fleet to the region by 2020. Panetta is expected to discuss China's military buildup amid tensions in the region, as well as security in Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to the (NDTV) network. He will also discuss defense trade with India, which in recent years has emerged as a major buyer of US military hardware. "Strategically, we see India as a partner with whom we have a lot of common interests and a lot of areas where we can work well together," a US official was quoted as saying in a posting on the US Department of Defense website. "We're trying to have a relationship with India that is broad, strategic and continual," he said.