PM to unveil common vision for future with Obama: Blake

I / Washington November 6, 2009, 11:28 IST

Ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit here, the Obama Administration has said the two sides would unveil a common vision of the future and their desire to work together on challenges like climate change and food security.

President Barack Obama's invitation to Singh for the first state visit of his administration on November 24 is not a mere co-incident and reflects deepening of bilateral ties, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake said.

It also shows the importance being given by the Obama Administration to the future of Indo-US relationship, he said.

"I think it's no accident that President Obama decided that the very first state visitor of his administration would be Prime Minister Manmohan Singh," Blake said yesterday at an 'India Day' event organised to celebrate the decades of partnership between India and American company Honeywell.

For Honeywell, India is an important centre for Research and Development, engineering, manufacturing and exports.

Giving a glimpse of the things to come during the forthcoming State visit of the Prime Minister, Blake said the two leaders would unveil a common vision of the future and the desire of the two countries to work together on all the big challenges that face the world including food security, agriculture, climate change, green technology, clean energy, education, science and technology.

He said the US considers India as one of its most important partners for the 21st century.

Obama's invitation to Singh for his first State Dinner at the White House on November 24 "not only shows the deep respect that the President has for the Prime Minister, but also the respect... The optimism that he has for the future of our relationship," Blake said at the event.

Obama has been a great admirer of the Prime Minister because of the leadership he has provided to India with his economic reforms in 1990s and for leading India to emerge as a major global economic power, he noted.

"The most important part of our relationship is that increasingly governments matter less and less and it's more about empowering the private sector and our businesses, our scientists, educators so that they can all work together to achieve great things," Blake said.

In her first major speech on India as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton had also called for deepening and strengthening of relationship between the two countries.

Addressing the gathering during yesterday's event, Indian Ambassador to the US, Meera Shankar, said both the Manmohan Singh government and the Obama Administration are determined to take the relationship to a new level.

She also referred to a number of high-profile visits between the two countries in the last couple of months.

"We have had a number of ministerial visits ranging in both directions covering areas ranging from culture, terrorism to education leading up to the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the first state visit to be hosted by the Obama administration," Shankar said.