US-INDIA 2 LAST

Obama's invitation to Singh for his first State Dinner at
the White House on November 24 "not only shows the deep
respect that the President has for the Prime Minister, but
also the respect... the optimism that he has for the future of
our relationship," Blake said at the event.

Obama has been a great admirer of the Prime Minister
because of the leadership he has provided to India with his
economic reforms in 1990s and for leading India to emerge as a
major global economic power, he noted.
"The most important part of our relationship is that
increasingly governments matter less and less and it's more
about empowering the private sector and our businesses, our
scientists, educators so that they can all work together to
achieve great things," Blake said.
In her first major speech on India as Secretary of State,
Hillary Clinton had also called for deepening and
strengthening of relationship between the two countries.
Addressing the gathering during yesterday's event, Indian
Ambassador to the US, Meera Shankar, said both the Manmohan
Singh government and the Obama Administration are determined
to take the relationship to a new level.
She also referred to a number of high-profile visits
between the two countries in the last couple of months.
"We have had a number of ministerial visits ranging in
both directions covering areas ranging from culture, terrorism
to education leading up to the visit of Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh for the first state visit to be hosted by the
Obama administration," Shankar said. PTI LKJ
SDE


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