Need to move Indo-US friendship into mature partnership: Senator

He said the meeting between Singh and Obama is expected to be dominated by economic issues

A top US senator today said it is time that the Indo-US friendship move into a more mature partnership.

Senator Mark Warner, Co-Chair of Senate India Caucus, while acknowledging sharp differences between India and the United States on a range of economic and trade issues including immigration, said, "I think our friendship has to move into a more mature partnership."

Warner was delivering during a Congressional hearing entitled "Assessing the Investment Climate and Improving Market Access in Financial Services in India," ahead of US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Summit at the White House tomorrow.

"It was not that long ago where the relationship between India and the United States was tepid at best, and then we moved from that tepid to a period -- particularly under President Clinton and President (George W) Bush -- where it was quite strong," said Warner.

Warner said the meeting between Singh and Obama is expected to be dominated by economic issues.

"I know we had some momentum a while back, and we need to keep the momentum," he said, adding that the two countries need to move forward on a bilateral investment treaty (BIT).

"A BIT will increase regulatory stability, and reduce investor uncertainty, particularly as you see India's economy slow a little bit. We've got to increase that industrial security if we're going to have the FDI that we need to see," he said.

Warner said the US needs to press Indian on some of the aspects of the retroactive tax system. He hoped that India will continue the process of liberalizing foreign access to their domestic market.