Washington: Pakistan is expected to take decisive action against terrorist groups based in their own region, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson categorically said on Tuesday.


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While addressing a speech on the US-India Partnership at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Tillerson said US and India stand shoulder to shoulder against terrorism.


Emhasising on the growing US-India defense partnership, the US Secretary of State said, "As we look to the next 100 years, it is vital that the Indo-Pacific continue to be free and open."


Commenting on his upcoming visit to India, Tillerson said, "This visit could not come at a more promising time for US-India relations and the Indo-US partnership."


President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are committed more than any other leaders before them to building an ambitious partnership, Tillerson asserted.


Highlighting the importance of Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2017, which is to be held in Hyderabad in November, Tillerson said the Summit is a clear example of how the US President and the Indian PM are promoting innovation and expanding job opportunities.


Notably Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump will head the US delegation.


The US Secretary of State, who will be visiting India next week, said the Trump administration was "determined to dramatically deepen" cooperation with India.


The US has offered a number of proposals to India in the defence sector that can be "potential game changers" for the bilateral commercial and military cooperation, the Secretary of State said.


The proposals forward by the US include sale of Guardian UAVs, aircraft carrier technologies, the future vertical-lift programme, and F-18 and F-16 fighter aircraft.


"In keeping with India's status as a 'Major Defence Partner' a status overwhelmingly endorsed last year by the US Congress and our mutual interest in expanding maritime cooperation, the Trump administration has offered a menu of defence options for India's consideration, including the Guardian UAV," Tillerson told a Washington audience.


From Silk Routes to Grand Trunk Roads, South Asia was for millennia a region bound together by the exchange of goods, people, and ideas, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said while speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a top American think-tank.


"But today it is one of the least economically integrated regions in the world; intra-regional trade has languished sitting around four or five percent of total trade," rued the top American diplomat ahead of his visit to India next week.