India and the U.S. hope to further boost their bilateral ties during the much awaited meeting scheduled for September 27 in Washington. The Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh left for the U.S. on Wednesday for a 7-day trip.
During his visit Singh will travel to Washington and then to New York for furthering and strengthening the partnership between the world’s two largest democracies.
“Over the past decade, our relationship with the United States, which is one of our most important relationships, has transformed into a global strategic partnership,” Singh said in his departure statement.
“The intensive, high-level bilateral visits over the last few months reflect the strong momentum of our engagement. We have also registered impressive progress in our cooperation across the full spectrum of the relationship,” he said.
Singh called the U.S. as a “long-term partner” in India’s development efforts, and in fostering a global environment that is conducive to the country’s growth.
The civil nuclear cooperation is expected to be the top most agenda of the Obama-Singh meeting. Indian defense sector is also set to buy American weapons worth five billion dollars during the prime minister’s visit. To deepen the military ties with India the U.S. has recently proposed to co-produce the C-130 J Hercules aircraft.
Diverse issues ranging from the U.S. immigration bill to the Bilateral Investment Treaty, Afghan militancy, and the joint production of war weapons will be discussed in the meeting.
“We have productive and deepening partnerships in trade and investment, defense, counter-terrorism, intelligence, internal security, cyber security, civil nuclear energy, environment, health, higher education, space, science and technology, and culture,” Singh said in his statement.
“My visit is an opportunity to review our joint efforts and chart a course for our future cooperation,” he said.
Besides addressing the U.N. general Assembly in New York, the Indian prime minister will hold bilateral meetings with the leaders of Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan.
