PMINDIA

Mr. President, members of the media,

First, I want to thank President Obama for his invitation and his warm and generous hospitality.

I am pleased to visit USA and meet President Obama at the start of my tenure.

I am happy that we are meeting here just a few days after the Indian and the U.S. missions reached Mars around the same time. So, after the India-U.S. summit on Mars, we are meeting here on earth. This happy co-incidence captures the potential of our relationship.

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This visit, especially my conversation with President Obama, has reinforced my conviction that India and the United States are natural global partners, based on our shared values, interests and strengths in the digital age. We already have the foundation of a strong partnership. We now have to revive the momentum and ensure that we get the best out of it for our people and for the world.

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President and I spoke about many of our common economic priorities. I am confident that India will see rapid economic growth and transformation. We are focusing in India on not just on policies, but also on processes, to make it easy and productive to do business in India. I believe that India-U.S. economic partnership will also grow rapidly in the coming years.

I also sought President Obama`s support for continued openness and ease of access for Indian services companies in the U.S. market.

We are serious about resolution of issues on both sides to enable civil nuclear energy cooperation to take off. It is important for India`s energy security.

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We had a candid discussion on Bali Ministerial of the WTO. India supports trade facilitation. However, I also expect that we are able to find a solution that takes care of our concern on food security. I believe that it should be possible to do that soon.

We have agreed to consult and cooperate closely on climate change issues, an area of strong priority for both of us.

There was great convergence on international developments that matter the most to our two countries, including peace and stability in Asia Pacific region. The United States is intrinsic to our Look East and Link West policies.

We discussed existing terrorism challenges, including in South Asia, and the new threats of terrorism in West Asia and beyond. We agreed to intensify our counter-terrorism and intelligence cooperation.

The Afghan people have shown the will to prevail over violence and extremism. We discussed our two countries` continued commitment to assist Afghanistan and our own coordination in this area.

We have shared concern on the Ebola crisis in Africa, for which India has already made financial commitments of 12 million U.S. dollars.

Given our broad range of shared interests, we will also continue to deepen our security dialogue and defence relations. I want to especially welcome the U.S. defence companies to participate in developing the Indian defence industry.

During the last four days in the U.S., I have seen extraordinary interest and excitement about India and India-U.S. partnership among the people of our two countries.

We will draw strength and inspiration from it as we start a more purposeful course in our ongoing journey. I look forward to receiving President Obama and his family in India at a convenient time.

I once again thank President Obama, the people of the United States and, especially, the Indian American community for their warm welcome and hospitality.