India, US agree to set up hotline between top leaders

New Delhi: In a first, India and the US today agreed to set up a hotline between their top leaders -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama.

"We will establish hotlines between myself and Barack and our National Security Advisors," Modi said in his opening statement during the two leaders' joint interaction with the media.

The Ministry of External Affairs later said this is the first time that India and the US will have a hotline at the level of top leadership.

Modi said the effort was part of their exercise to give the critical partnership between two countries "a new thrust and sustained attention".

"We have decided to give this critical partnership a new thrust and sustained attention. For this, we have agreed that India and the United States must have regular Summits at greater frequency," he said.