Flashback 2015: India-US relations reached a new high

New Delhi, Dec 22: High level visits, active engagements in 2015 has brought a new high in Indo-US ties. Relationship between US president Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached a new high in the year gone by.

The year started with the historic visit of President Obama to attend the Republic Day event in India. He became not only first US president to be the chief guest at India's Republic Day but also the first US president to visit India twice while in office.

Officials in US have also felt that President Obama and PM Modi share a strong and productive relationship.

"President Obama and Prime Minister Modi have a very, strong and productive relationship, not just on climate change but broadly," Todd Stern, the US Special Envoy on Climate Change said yesterday.

Within a span of year, three state visits happened between India and US. Apart from face to face meeting, both the leaders also maintained a close communicate with each other through hotline and other means of communication.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also broke protocol and drove to the airport to greet the President and his wife, Michelle when they arrived here in January this year.

Obama too reciprocated and sat in open area for three hours to watch for spectacular Republic Day parade.
Both the nations now also share special relationship on security and diplomatic fronts and according to a top State Department official Indo-US alliance will become more productive.

A top State Department official expressed hope that Indo-US alliance will become more productive under the PM Modi, once a persona non grata in the US.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar ended the year on another high note. "Gelling well" with his US counterpart Ashton Carter, they agreed to further expand their growing defence partnership to make it what Carter called an "anchor of global security."

"What we are witnessing in the US-India partnership is the culmination of years of effort actually decades of hard work that has yielded important results for both nations. This past year, in particular, was especially transformative," US Ambassador to India Richard Verma said.

OneIndia New (with agency inputs)