Washington: The US would continue to play an important role in India's transformation in the decades to come and going forward the two countries will join hands in addressing global challenges, the Indian Ambassador to the US said on Monday.
"Going forward, I see the US continuing to play a role in India's transformation, and see India and the US joining hands to make the world a better place for our two nations and the rest of the world," Indian Ambassador to the US Arun K Singh told a Washington audience.
"As the Indian Prime Minister, has said, 'We should not confine ourselves to thinking what India and the US can do for each other but what we can do together for the world'," Singh said.
"We should take that as our common challenge for the future, as we step into the second decade of the historic and transformative civil nuclear cooperation initiative," said the top Indian diplomat.
Singh was speaking at an event organised jointly by the Confederation of Indian Industry and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a US-based think-tank, on the 10th anniversary of India-US civil nuclear deal.
Giving a brief overview of the progress in India-US relationship, Singh said the experience of the past ten years has taught that deeper dialogue and effort at empathetic understanding is the best way to overcome challenges.
"Autonomy of decision-making and differences, we believe, are not inconsistent with our strategic partnership," he said.
"Our relationship with the US has transformed rapidly in the last ten years to become a full-spectrum relationship, covering virtually all fields of human endeavour," Singh said, adding that it is now embedded in the larger vision of a global strategic partnership that has stood the test of a decade of transitions, turbulence and challenges in an interdependent world.
"The level of political comfort in doing things together is unprecedented. On the ground, habits of cooperation have formed among our departments and institutions. There is greater awareness of each other among our people," Singh said.
Defence, he noted, is one of the areas where the transformation in the last decade has been evident.
"In 2005, our countries concluded their first Defence Cooperation Framework and it was upgraded and renewed last month," he said.
"We have added the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative to foster collaboration in transformative defence technology, co-production and co-development. Last year, we began a new and futuristic knowledge partnership in defence studies," Singh said.
Cooperation in counter-terrorism, intelligence-sharing and homeland security has made great strides in the last decade, arising from the two countries' common resolve against terrorism, he said.
"It was further strengthened after the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, that counted US citizens among the victims of terrorist plots conceived and masterminded from across our borders," Singh said, adding that dismantling safe havens and disrupting financial and tactical support for terrorist and criminal networks have been high on the common agenda.
"I believe that no relationship between India and another country can today match the range, depth, quality and intensity of the India-US partnership. Of course, when there is such intensified engagement, much of it recent, there will be issues, challenges, disagreements and on occasion, perhaps disappointments," Singh said.
