India's rise on global stage is in America's interest: US

[Sidhu...Sidhaarth Roy]

[img]http://www.ptinews.com/pti_cms/gall_content/2010/10/2010_10$img_20101027243-ll.jpg[/img]

Washington: Ahead of President Barack Obama's India trip next week, a top US official today said India's rise and its strength and progress on the global stage is deeply in the strategic interest of the United States.

"The US-Indian partnership for a number of years has been a genuine bipartisan priority in Washington. Same is true in India. Over the last decade, through three administrations of both of our parties and two Indian governments of different parties, we've transformed the relationship," Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Bill Burns said.

"India's rise and its strength and progress on the global stage is deeply in the strategic interest of the United States," he told reporters at a special White House briefing.

Burns said President Obama has called Indo-US ties a defining partnership of the 21st century, and in many ways the two countries are "natural partners".