India, US to expand areas of cooperation

Reaffirming that United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to India will expand the areas of cooperation, a top Barack Obama administration official said Washington intends to deepen and strengthen the strategic partnership with New Delhi.

"India is a global power. I think, as the Secretary reflected earlier this week and will certainly do so when she is in India, there is an opportunity to expand the areas of cooperation," assistant secretary of State for Public Affairs Philip J Crowley told foreign correspondents.

The Obama administration, he said, wants to see India continue to increase its role in terms of regional stability, regional security, economic development in the region.

"We saw recently, for example, that India has played a very constructive role in helping the United States and others in terms of conflict resolution," Crowley said.

The US believes that the world's largest democracy and the world's oldest democracy have and share a great deal in common and can only expand, deepen, their relationship going forward, the official said.

"That will have significance in terms of our bilateral relationship and also significance in terms of being able to address regional challenges, global challenges. We are very pleased to see India begin to step up, take a more significant role and addressing those challenges," Crowley said.

In a response to a question, he termed India a fascinating country.

"India is fully engaged in the world. India is harnessing the capabilities of all its people. India's diversity works to its ultimate advantage. It is stepping up and showing that it is willing to engage widely around the world and take its rightful place in trying to solve the problems that the entire world represents," he said.