India, US move on since diplomat row, immunity issue insulated

India today said it has "insulated" the issue of privileges and immunity from rest of its relationship with the US, which was one of its strategic partners.
"The India-US relations is strong and we continue to grow from strength to strength. US is one of India's most important strategic partners and we have always maintained that. You are right that the incident relating to Indian diplomat in New York caused certain degree of misunderstanding for certain period of time and we are discussing the issue of privileges and immunity quite separately.
"We have insulated that from rest of our relationship.... Energy Secretary is coming next week. There are several other dialogues in process and they will continue," Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh told women reporters at an event to mark the International Women's Day.

She was responding to a question on the current status of Indo-US relations in the aftermath of Khobragade episode.
Senior Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade was arrested on December 12 in New York on visa fraud charges. The incident triggered a row between the two countries with India retaliating by downgrading privileges of certain category of US diplomats among other steps.
Asked about recent comments by US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Desai Biswal expressing concern over "discouraging investment" environment and taxation policies, Singh said India has always discussed its position on various anxieties expressed by the American side including on Intellectual Property Right and taxation policies.

India would like to clear all doubts the investors in that country may have, she added.