The US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton will have a one-on-one discussion with Manmohan Singh regarding regional issues in South Asia, during the Indian Prime Minister’s visit to the US.

"I think that regional issues will be very important, particularly since the secretary has just come back from Afghanistan, so they'll want to talk about issues related to South Asia," State Department Spokesman Ian Kelly, said.

"She'll want to talk about the State Department's role in the strategic dialogue with India, so we'll want to get into more detail on how we carry through with that," he said, "just besides a whole range of diplomatic issues".

Hillary Clinton, who will be among the guests at the White House dinner for Manmohan Singh, next Tuesday, also plans to hold a lunch for the Indian delegation at the State Department probably on the same day, Kelly said.

She would be meeting the prime minister "within this event here, and there may be another one as well", Kelly said, noting that "of course, she will be in the meetings at the White House that the President will have, bilateral meetings and other events at the White House."

"But there will be a bilateral meeting between her and Mr Singh, and also she will host a lunch here as well for his delegation," he added.

In keeping with the importance on India-US economic engagement during the summit, seven Indian corporate giants will sign partnership agreements with their US counterparts.

The US-India CEO Forum constituted by the Manmohan Singh and the then US President George Bush in July 2005 for increasing bilateral trade and investment is set for expansion and re-launch on Monday.

Ratan Tata, Chairman of Tata Sons Ltd., will remain a chairman of the Indian firm, but his new US counterpart will be David Cote, Chairman and CEO of Honeywell Inc, a firm with diversified interests ranging from defence to communications and a large presence in India.

Instead of 10, the new CEO forum will have 12 members from each nation. One fourth of the Indian members will be women CEOs. The US too has included women CEOs and companies promoting clean energy and green economy.