India and US renew ever closer strategic partnership

Washington

The world's largest democracies, India and the United States, agreed measures to deepen their security and economic cooperation on Tuesday, part of an ambitious drive to boost trade between them five-fold.

After the talks, US Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker admitted that the idea of increasing exchanges from $100 billion to $500 billion a year was "a big audacious goal," but said the meeting had left her very optimistic. 

The "US-Indian Strategic and Commercial Dialog," was launched in January by President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and on Tuesday US and Indian economic and diplomatic officials came together in Washington.

"The president and the prime minister set out a goal for us ... and I think there's a lot of opportunity," Pritzker said.

"What feels new is the amount of energy that the Indian government is putting in to trying to remove the impediments that have been faced by foreign companies trying to do business in India."

Asked how long it would take to increase trade five fold, Pritzker said no deadline had been set but added: "When you set big audacious goals, it helps move bureaucracies, and that's what's happening.

"We've got to change the way we do business," she said.  

The talks came as President Xi Jinping of India's Asian rival China arrived in the United States, two days before Modi was due, but USofficials insisted there was no plan to build up India as a counterweight to Beijing.

Instead, they celebrated what Obama has dubbed the "defining relationship of the 21st Century" with agreements to fight terrorism and climate change and to bolster cooperation in energy, hi-tech and defense.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said: "The US-India relationship is a bright spot on the international landscape and is one of the most important bilateral relationships in the world.

"Our talks today have given us a platform for further progress ... There are so many areas of cooperation. There is so much going on between us."