Obama knows importance of strong Indo-US relations: WH

Washington, Aug 1: US President

recognises the importance of a strong relationship with India, which is not only multifaceted, but there exists an important national security relationship, the

said today.

Obama, who has invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a meeting at the White House in September, is looking forward to hearing from his administration officials on the talks by Secretary of State John Kerry and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzeker, currently in India for the fifth annual Strategic Dialogue,

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest, told reporters at his daily news conference. "The President certainly recognises the importance of a strong relationship between the United States and India. That relationship is multifaceted. There's an important national security relationship that exists there," he said.

"There are obviously very important economic ties between our two countries. There exists the potential for us to build on some of those economic ties. I know that was the subject of some discussion during the talks earlier this week. I know the President is looking forward to being briefed by officials at the State Department and at the Commerce Department about the results of those conversations," Earnest said.

At the State Department, Deputy Press Secretary Marie Harf told reporters that there has been no policy change towards India after Modi became Prime Minister.

"We have always said during the election we will work with whoever is elected to be the next prime minister of India. We made that very clear," she said.

"Regardless of who that was, we look forward to welcoming Prime Minister Modi to Washington this fall and think this was an important trip, even at a time when there's a lot of other crises going on in the world. So it's not a policy change towards India. We've always said we will work with whoever is the leader of India because our relationship is so broad and so deep and so important," Harf said.

PTI