US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has arrived in Delhi, with climate change set to top her agenda.
Mrs Clinton has sought to allay fears the US will press India on carbon emission cuts but will also argue they do not contradict economic development.
Mrs Clinton is on a five-day visit and spent the first two in Mumbai.
She will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other officials, 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.
They argue that the cuts restrict development and that countries like the US must do more themselves as they have been historically to blame for the emissions.
Mrs Clinton, however, will argue there is no contradiction between economic development and low carbon 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 says the talks in Delhi promise to be spirited, although there is no indication of what outcome is expected.
But she 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.
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