Indo-US relations have reached a new pinnacle: Royce

Washington, Mar 12: The relationship between India and the US has reached a new pinnacle, a top American lawmaker has said and pledged to work further on boosting bilateral ties.

Congressman Ed Royce, said this yesterday, after the conclusion of a Congressional trip to India, which was led by him. "I am confident that US-India relations have reached a new pinnacle, and as Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, I will continue to work to see that we reach new heights," he said.

During the visit, Royce and the delegation met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, National Security Advisor Ajit Kumar Doval, and Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

"Meeting with Prime Minister Modi, we discussed deepening our counterterrorism ties through more high-level exchanges and greater information sharing," he said. Our two countries share the common threat of terrorism, "fuelled by hundreds of Deobandi schools throughout Pakistan", he said. Royce said, we also discussed ways to "deepen economic ties".

"Our delegation had the opportunity to meet with Minister Jaitley to discuss India's ambitious budget and other policies that should help bolster US-India trade relations," he said. "As we discussed, the conclusion of a Bilateral Investment Treaty will be key to realise the goal of achieving USD 500 billion in trade," Royce, former co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian-Americans said.

PTI