Statement on the President's Visit to India.

IT IS a privilege and a pleasure for me to return for my third visit to India, the largest nation in free Asia. I first came here in 1953, as Vice President of the United States, and since then I have followed with particular interest the steady progress that has been made in this land that has the sublime combination of great tradition, deep philosophical and religious insight, and enormous progressive spirit.

The first principle of the relationship between India and the United States is that our two countries share fully the basic objective of peace in Asia and peace in the world.

Only in peace can Asian nations devote their full energy and attention to the most important problem they face: the grave human problem of meeting the expectations of men, women, and children to share in all the benefits of modern science and technology. Mankind has reached the moon. Now we must improve the quality of life here on earth.

India's leaders have a vision--a vision of Asian nations working together bilaterally and in regional groupings reflecting shared interests.

The United States shares that vision. The United States will support efforts toward that goal--when we are asked and when our contribution can be significant.

The United States respects the determination of Indians--and of their Asian neighbors--to work out their destiny and their security in their own way. We respect India's way, emphasizing national independence while accepting the interdependence of nations. We firmly believe that Asian problems must be resolved by the people of Asia. But we stand ready to help.

We stand ready to help because of our friendship and human concern for the people of Asia and because we have our own interest in helping. The United States has an important stake in the stability of Asia, and the United States knows that the changes taking place in Asia in the last third of this century will have an impact on the history of the world over the next several centuries. As we apply the scientific, technological, agricultural, and industrial achievements of this age to all of our national and human problems, Asia can be the area of greatest opportunity. India will be a leader in that Asian future.

The United States is proud of the role it has played, through economic assistance, in India's economic progress. We honor the people and leaders of India for what they have achieved with their own resources and their own hard work--their genuine revolution in agriculture and their progress in industry. But Indian leaders know, as do we, that problems-large problems--remain to be solved.

Coming to India, I find this a time to remember the words of President Eisenhower when he addressed a joint session of the Parliament of India in 1959:

"Before us we see long years of what can be a new era; mankind in each year reaping a richer harvest from the fields of the earth--gaining a more sure mastery of elemental power for human benefit--sharing an expanding commerce in goods and in knowledge and in wisdom--dwelling together in peace."

The new era spoken of by President Eisenhower 10 years ago is within our reach. Let us cooperate to grasp it, knowing that peace is not only the absence of war, but a process of creative order, of orderly change.

I am certain that this new era will be one in which the ancient goal of dwelling together in peace finds inspiration in the title of a collection of the writings of Mahatma Gandhi: All Men Are Brothers.

It is in this spirit that I come to New Delhi and it is in this spirit that I look forward to fruitful discussions with Prime Minister Gandhi and the other leaders of this bastion of democracy in Asia.