Follow us on:   

India PM to hold talks with Obama in US
July 24, 2013, 8:42 am

[PMOI]

The trip was announced after a meeting between Singh (right) and visiting US Vice President Joseph Biden (left) [PMOI]

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will hold talks with US President Barack Obama in Washington on a six-day visit to the United States in September.

The announcement was made after a 75-minute meeting between Singh and visiting US Vice President Joseph Biden in New Delhi.

The Indian prime minister will also attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

President Obama visited India in November 2010 and announced trade deals with the Asian nation worth $10 billion.

The American leader called the relationship between the US and India as one of the “defining and indispensable partnerships of the 21st Century”.

During a meeting with top Indian leaders, Biden referred to Obama’s statements while trying to gather Indian support for the US ‘rebalancing’ strategy in Asia.

In an official statement released prior to the vice president’s visit, he outlined the need for India to be made a partner in that pursuit.

“Twenty, even 10 years ago, some might have suggested that India be left out of discussions about the Asia-Pacific.  One of the reasons why President Obama called our relationship with India “a defining partnership of the century ahead” is that India is increasingly looking east as a force for security and growth in Southeast Asia and beyond,” Biden said last week.

“To us that’s welcome news.  We encourage it,” he added.

Biden also had a meeting with Vice-President Hamid Ansari who pointed out that India would like to “cherish, as you do, the right to disagree without losing sight of our endeavour for the common good.”

Source: Agencies