Ties with India, a central component of rebalance to Asia: US

Washington, Jan 27: Observing that relationship with India has been a central component of America's rebalance to Asia as demonstrated by the presidential visit in the last two days, US Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker has said that India and the US still have a lot of work to do.

"Our relationship with India has been a central component of America’s rebalance to Asia, and as the last two days have demonstrated, over the years India and the United States have systematically forged an indispensable partnership that is about shared values and shared interests," Pritzker said.

"But we have a lot of work still to do, and we have committed to confronting these political and economic challenges together. In particular, Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi and President (Barack) Obama recognise the importance of deepening the economic and commercial ties that bind the people of our two great nations together," said Pritzker, who is part of the US presidential delegation to India. Obama and Modi in a joint statement on Sunday announced to elevate US-India Strategic Dialogue to a Strategic and Commercial Dialogue. Pritzker will chair the new Commercial components of the Dialogue.

This agreement establishes a framework that will strengthen Indo-US ties and create new avenues of cooperation between the two governments, businesses and peoples.

"The new commercial element of our most important bilateral dialogue will focus on our shared priorities of growing our economies, creating good jobs, and strengthening our middle class and I look forward to leading this renewed effort with Secretary of State John Kerry," Pritzker said.

"While we use this dialogue to produce concrete results, we will also use the dialogue to ensure that the United States and Indian businesses – small, medium and large – are in a position to capitalize on abundant opportunities that exist in both of our countries," she said.

"We'll also use the dialogue to promote more trade and investment between our two nations and to identify new opportunities for economic and commercial cooperation that will improve the lives of both our peoples. And we’ll continue to use this dialogue to address the many strategic and political challenges that the US and India must face together in the years ahead," Pritzker added.

PTI