India, US ambitious agenda |
Describing 2015 as a transformative year in US-India relations, US Ambassador to India Richard Verma has said they are moving into 2016 with optimism and an ambitious agenda for the future. He said it was a year of firsts and many high points. Barak Obama was the first US president to be the chief guest for India`s Republic Day ceremonies in January 2015. The two sides also "held the first-ever Strategic and Commercial Dialogue, merging our commercial and strategic issues to help power the growth of both of our countries". Noting that India and the US had "moved beyond a buyer/seller relationship in our defence relationship to one of joint production and co-development", Verma said: We elevated our strategic partnership to `strategic plus`."This signified "that we work together at a much higher level, in more places, and on more different subjects".The two countries exceeded all previous records in two-way trade and foreign direct investments, totalling over $102 billion, Verma said. Indian companies invested some $11 billion in the US, while US investments in India topped $28 billion.A new Innovation Forum was created to build upon Modi`s successful visit to Silicon Valley, and help leverage the use of technology in a wide range of areas, including building new smart cities and modern infrastructure.
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