Modi's US visit extremely successful, energised ties: White House

The US visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was "extremely successful" and his summit talks with President Barack Obama gave both leaders an opportunity to share their vision for the bilateral relationship and energized the strategic partnership, the White House said.

During the private dinner that Obama held on Sep 29 for Modi, both leaders shared anecdotes. Phil Reiner, senior director for India at the National Security Council, said that Obama was looking forward to the dinner as it provided an "excellent opportunity to get to know each other better".

The "small, private official working dinner" in the White House provided a "unique opportunity for the two leaders to sit together and exchange ideas", he said.

The focus of the talks was on challenges of governance and the issues associated with reform and the vision that Modi and Obama have for the bilateral relationship.

He said that during the dinner, much of the conversation was on the mandate that the two came into office with and the challenges both face to put the agenda into action.

Both leaders found "lot of commonality" and discussed ways in how to make the government more accessible.

Both discussed how to increase engagement between the government and the people and the affinity between the two nations.

Modi shared his vision for India, and how he has launched the scheme of bank accounts for all, his digital India mission and of having a chief technical officer in every department, said Reiner.

The engagement was "very positive" and both "shared personal anecdotes", he said.

The talks on Sep 30 focussed on their bilateral strategic partnership, on regional issues, economic ties, defence and security issues and climate change among other matters.

"I would say that the assessment on our part is that the prime minister's visit was extraordinarily successful. It has provided a boost in terms of the vision and focus that we have for our bilateral relations, and energized the strategic partnership," Reiner told foreign correspondents here.

Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Nisha Desai Biswal, said the discussions "went a long way in re-energising and re-launching the bilateral relationship".

She said that Modi "shared his very robust vision for India's transformation, and the things he wants to go work on, and it resonated with the president, and all of us who were there".