Biden outlines Obama's commitment to India ties

Visiting US Vice President Joe Biden Tuesday outlined President Barack Obama's and his "personal commitment and interest" in expansion of India-US relations and said India's Look East policy was complementary to America's "re-balancing towards Asia".

Biden, who arrived here Monday evening on a four-day visit, met Vice President Hamid Ansari and later held talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

During talks with Ansari, Biden referred to "India's own Look East policy and its complementarity with the US re-balancing towards Asia". He emphasised that enhanced economic engagement was in the interest of both countries.

Ahead of his trip, Biden had said the visit to India and later to Singapore were intended to reinforce the White House strategy of "rebalancing" towards Asia and the Pacific.

Ansari emphasized on the vibrancy of the bilateral relationship which, he said, indicated that relations have "grown from strength to strength".

He said the areas of agreement between the two sides are considerable and expanding and highlighted that "huge segments of the Indian population were extremely supportive of improved relations", said a source.

Ansari also spoke of the need for continuous attention to building the partnership that is based on shared values of liberty, constitutionalism, democracy and tolerance.

Both had wide ranging discussion on various aspects of bilateral relations as well as regional issues, including Afghanistan.

Biden's is the second high-level visit from the US to India in a month, coming exactly a month after that of US Secretary of State John Kerry. He travels to Mumbai later Tuesday on the second leg of his India visit.