New York: The following is the full text of remarks made by US President Barack Obama after his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New York on Monday:
Well, it is a great pleasure to meet once again with my good friend, Prime Minister Modi.
Our meeting builds on the progress that was made during the wonderful visit that I was able to make to India, to the prime minister’s invitation, and the historic participation that I had with Republic Day.
We’ve elevated our ties. We’ve committed ourselves to a new partnership between our two countries. And there’s been excellent follow-through on a whole range of issues.
Much of our discussion today focused on the upcoming climate conference in Paris.
We agreed that this is a critical issue for the world; that all of us have responsibilities.
We are encouraged by the aggressive nature of Prime Minister Modi’s commitment to clean energy.
And what I indicated to the prime minister is that I really think that India’s leadership in this upcoming conference will set the tone not just for today but for decades to come.
And I have great confidence in our ability to partner with other large countries, like China, and the European Union’s efforts in order for us to really solve this problem in a significant way that will help not just our people, but I think can actually be an engine of growth over the long term.
We also had a chance to talk about trade and investment, where our governments and business leaders met again last week to forge new partnerships to create jobs and opportunities for Indians and Americans.
Prime Minister Modi has called on the Indian diaspora in the United States, which is very large and very successful, to contribute their talents to India’s progress.
And that’s something that we welcome.
And we discussed how we can further refine our strategic vision — our common joint vision moving forward for security and partnerships.
And that encompasses everything from scientific exchanges and educational exchanges, to security cooperation and defence procurement.
On all these issues, the prime minister has been an outstanding partner, and it reflects the fact that as the two largest democracies in the world — or two of the largest democracies in the world, we have an opportunity to help to define a common set of principles that are consistent with what the United Nations believes and are consistent with what both India’s and the United States’ founders believed — that governments are there to serve their people and to provide uplift and prosperity to everyone.
And in my interactions with Prime Minister Modi, I have to say that those ideals are ones that he not only gives lip service to but he also acts on.
And so we very much appreciate his friendship and his partnership.