Kerry's visit an important engagement: India

India Friday described US Secretary of State John Kerry as "an extremely experienced person who has known India in the past" and helped in many ways and termed his visit "an important engagement".

External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said Kerry's June 23-25 visit was "an important engagement". Kerry is to co-chair the fourth edition of the India-US Strategic Dialogue in New Delhi.

"This is an important engagement for us… he will be engaging with us for the first time. We haven't got a chance to come face to face with him in the past. He is an extremely experienced person who has known India in the past. He has come to India, has interacted with the Indian government, he has helped in many ways, particularly when we were negotiating the civil nuclear deal," said Khurshid on the sidelines of an event here Friday.

Khurshid said India expected that the positive outlook Kerry had for India while he was in the opposition "is something he will implement in office", adding "let us get to talk to him first".

The India-US Strategic Dialogue, inaugurated in 2009, is a forum to discuss the full range of US-India cooperation on bilateral and regional issues, reflecting the strong strategic partnership between the two countries.

The topics for discussion during Kerry's visit will include bilateral and regional economic engagement, regional security and defence, science and technology, climate change, and other global issues such as women's empowerment, non-proliferation and space cooperation.