'Indications from US admin positive on ties with India'

WASHINGTON: Indications from the US administration on ties with India are "positive and upbeat", top American experts and lawmakers have said, days after President Barack Obama outlined that the country was a "big part" of plans in his second innings.

At the same time, the experts, policy makers and lawmakers, known for keeping a tab on India-US relationship, believe that the two countries would continue to have differences on key economic issues, even as they strengthen their relationship in strategic, national security and defence ties.

"Early indications about what the next four years have in store for US-India relations are positive and upbeat," former Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs Karl F Inderfurth told PTI.

Currently senior adviser and Wadhwani Chair in US-India Policy Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), an eminent American think-tank, Inderfurth was quick to refer to the remarks given by the National Security Adviser Thomas Donilon last week in which he said that the US has "given a full embrace" to India's rice and "a full embrace" of its rise as a partner.

"That's good, because there will be much to do," Inderfurth said.

"Obama's second term agenda with India will be vital to both, including a further deepening of trade and commercial ties (both countries need to get their economies growing), ensuring a stable future for Afghanistan and its immediate neighbourhood, and collaborating on critical issues ranging from dealing with Iran and its nuclear ambitions to encouraging the rise of a peaceful China," he said.

"In all these areas India will be, as President Obama told Prime Minister Singh in Cambodia: 'a big part of my plans'," Inderfurth said.

Upbeat about the prospects of India-US relationship, Senator Mark Warner said that the past year saw continued growth in many sectors, especially defence trade where the efforts of Ashton Carter, the Deputy Secretary of Defence, are paying off.

"Boeing is negotiating a USD 1.7 billion deal for helicopters, and that's in addition to India's USD 4 billion purchase of C-17 airlifters," Warner pointed out.