Connect with us

Headlines

Indo-US relations better than ever, more can be done: Rice

Image
Image

New Delhi, Oct 21


Former US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice on Monday said that relations between India and the US have never been as good as they are currently.

In her address at the the Annual Leadership Summit of India-US Strategic Partnership Forum, she added that lot more can be done to improve the relations and create more opportunities.

Talking of the high point in Indo-US relations, the civil nuclear deal, Rice said: "The relationship today is I think it is better then what it has been. I was Secretary of State when we signed the historic civil nuclear deal, I negotiated that deal. The deal was was not only about civil nuclear power. It was about removing a number of constraints on the ability of the US and india to improve their cooperation."

"We worked out the civil nuclear deal. We are better now, but we could be so much better," she added.

Regarding the ongoing trade talks between India and the US, Rice said that the two sides should concentrate on the areas or points in which they have common interest.

"Get a deal, and the way that you do that is you see down and say what is absolutely necessary, where is the interest overlapping," she said on being asked about her views on the ongoing talks.

Indo-US relations have witnessed a few hiccups off late, with the US stripping India off the GSP (Generalized System of Preferences) benefits and the two countries imposing higher tariffs on each other's products earlier this year. However, the two countries are working on a trade deal and speaking on the issue at that same event during the day, Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said that the talks are on track and the broad contours of the proposed deal have been worked upon.