We expect brighter Indo-US ties under DonalD Trump: India

India today expressed confidence that the Indo-US relationship will be "brighter" under Donald Trump's presidency and said there has been high-level engagement with his prospective team in deepening the ties.
"We are very clear that the future of Indo-US relationship will be brighter than it has been in the immediate past. The reason is very simple. The key strength of the relationship lies in the fact that it has bipartisan support," Minister of State of External Affairs M J Akbar said.
He was addressing a joint press conference with his ministerial colleague V K Singh where they listed achievements of the MEA in the last two-and-half years.

There was a very warm and productive initial conversation between President-elect Trump and our Prime Minister. Already there has been a series of high-level engagements involving the NSA and the Foreign Secretary, Akbar said.
He said India was "very confident" that the elements of the ties like defence partnership and strategic complementarities will drive the equation between the two countries to greater heights.
Replying to a question on media reports about seizure of wanted terrorist Dawood Ibrahim's properties by authorities in United Arab Emirates, Akbar refused to give a direct reply and only said there has been cooperation between security agencies of the two countries.

Sources said the reports were not verified.

Replying to a question on why Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit here was postponed, Akbar said there were certain "scheduling problem", adding he had a very fruitful meeting with her in Dhaka recently.
"We hope the new dates will be negotiated soon," he said.
When asked about proposed Teesta water agreement between India and Bangladesh, he admitted there were issues and said government was trying for internal consensus over it.
He also clearly indicated that West Bengal government was opposed to it. "We hope there will be agreement between the Centre and Bengal government on Teesta and other water related issues."

On the festering issue of fishermen with Sri Lanka, Singh said both India and Sri Lanka had agreed to explore the possibility of installing tracking systems on fishing boats so that fishermen from each other's country do not cross territorial waters.
He said the technology to be installed is being worked out and it will be finalised very soon.
Singh said the issue was discussed in detail during the ministerial meeting on Monday and India requested for immediate release of the fishing boats.