With barely two weeks left for President Barack Obama's visit to India, the White House has indicated that he will emphasise economic dimensions of the India-U.S. relationship, especially in the context of the global recession and ongoing recovery.
Asked at a briefing about what the President would discuss with his Indian interlocutors while travelling through the country, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said that from an economic viewpoint the Obama administration understood what it had to do to create jobs, increase exports and ensure that it “just does not fall on American consumers to drive world demand.”
“That's a lot of what you'll hear the President talk about on that trip, and we'll hopefully have some tangible results from it,” he added.
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In a clear sign that the White House was according high priority to the visit, Mr. Gibbs confirmed that the President was “involved in fairly regular meetings with the national security team to ensure a successful visit not long after the elections.”
He noted in particular that the U.S. had an “an important economic relationship” with India, underscoring that the first State dinner that was held for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Washington November last showed “the degree of understanding in terms of the significance that this government and this administration puts on that relationship.”