As part of their effort to enhance defence engagements, India and the US have agreed to identify areas of cooperative and collaborative projects in advance defence technologies and systems in the next one year.
Applauding bilateral defence cooperation and expressing satisfaction with the progress achieved to date in defence relations, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President Barack Obama in a joint statement on Friday emphasised the need for more intensive defence cooperation on both sides.
The statement said, the two countries share common security interests and place each other at the same level as their closest partners.
President Obama encouraged the further participation of US firms in partnering India's efforts to enhance its defence capacities. He also welcomed India’s decision to participate in the Rim of the Pacific, RIMPAC naval exercise to be hosted by U.S. Pacific Command in 2014.
Dr. Singh said that India wants America to stand by its side in its basic task of improving the standard of living of its people, to get rid of mass poverty, ignorance and disease which still afflict millions and millions of people in the country.
Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to the full and timely implementation of the India-US Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement.
The Singh-Obama summit called upon Pakistan to work towards bringing the perpetrators of the November 2008 Mumbai attacks to justice.
The two leaders strongly condemned the September 26 terrorist attack in Samba in Jammu and Kashmir.
In the joint statement issued after the meeting both the leaders reiterated their condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and reaffirmed their commitment to eliminate terrorist safe havens and infrastructure, and disrupting terrorist networks including Al-Qaeda and the Lashkar-e-Toiba(LeT).
Later, in a statement to the media, Prime Minister cautioned against high expectations from his meeting with his Pakistan counterpart Nawaz Sharif expected to be held in New York on Sunday given the fact that terrorists are still active in the sub-continent and Pakistan continues to remain the epicenter of terrorism.
Addressing a meeting of Business Leaders of United States in New York Prime Minister sent a clear message to the US business community to invest in India saying that New Delhi is committed to continue the economic reforms and bring the economy back on the track.
Dr. Singh told them that Government of India has an abiding commitment to fostering an economic environment that is open, predictable, transparent and investment friendly.
He said the fundamentals of the Indian economy remain strong and that his government is committed to getting India back to a sustainable growth path of 8-9%.
