Obama's India visit: Keeping lines of communication open important, says US

NEW DELHI: Ahead of US President Barack Obama's visit here, American Ambassador Richard Verma today identified energy and defence among the areas where progress was expected while noting that there may be differences between the two sides but keeping lines of communication open was important.

He also admitted there was a criticism that while India and the US share a close ties, the partnership doesn't live up to its "hype and promise".

Addressing a gathering of diplomats and policy experts here, Verma said much was achieved in last 10 years while noting the progress in defence ties, with US defence sales to India topping USD 10 billion, and bilateral trade that had grown five fold to USD 100 billion in the past decade.

"We believe there is no reason it can't grow another five-fold, to USD 500 billion by 2020," he said.

Verma also said that the US continued to "look forward to implementing the civil nuclear cooperation initiative to support the prime minister's goal of providing 24-hour electricity to all Indians by 2020".

The top US envoy, who took over earlier this month, also underlined the need to maintain the momentum in the ties, saying, "Our success is not a given nor is it preordained... We will have to continue to work hard at breaking down the barriers that divide us and seek to expand the areas that unite us."

Verma replaced Nancy Powell, who resigned in March 2014 in the backdrop of a diplomatic row over the treatment meted out to Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade, who was arrested in the US on charges of making false declarations in a visa application for her maid and released on a USD 250,000 bond in 2013.

The issue had escalated into a full-blown diplomatic spat between the US and India, which retaliated by downgrading privileges of certain category of US diplomats among other steps.

Kathleen Stephens was the charge d'affaires at the US embassy in Powell's absence until now.