New Delhi/Manila: The relationship between India and the United States goes beyond mutual interest and can be beneficial for Asia and humanity at large, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday to US President Donald Trump, who described him as a “friend” who is “doing a great job”. Mr Modi also assured President Trump that India will try to “live up to the expectations” of the US and the world and thanked the US President for speaking “highly” about India during his trips. The comments came ahead of their bilateral talks and reflect the growing convergence of the two nations on strategic issues in the Indo-Pacific region.
Mr Modi later told the Asean leaders that the “task of transforming India is proceeding at an unprecedented scale”. The talks come a day after officials of four countries — India, the US, Japan and Australia — held a meeting amid signs of an emerging “Quadrilateral” that is being seen as a mechanism to check Chinese military and economic assertiveness in the Asia-Pacific region, which is now being referred to by President Trump as the “Indo-Pacific” region.
